Seems like every week the feedstock for this changes to some other source...
Biofuel Initiatives...
(9/7, G.Warwick, Aviationweek) Engine manufacturer General Electric has joined an Australian consortium established to develop and commercialize aviation biofuel derived from native eucalyptus trees. The consortium includes Virgin Australia, Canadian biofuels company Dynamotive Energy Systems, its Australian licensee Renewable Oil Corp., and the national Future Farm Industries Co-operative Research Center. The venture's focus is on converting mallee, or multi-stemmed, eucalypt trees into biofuel, using a fast pyrolysis process developed by Dynamotive. Pyrolysis produces a “bio-crude” oil by rapidly heating biomass to a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. The consortium plans to have a pilot biofuel production plant operating in Australia by 2012, and to have a commercial-scale plant operational by as early as 2014. GE will assist with development and certification of the fuel. Future Farm Industries, a joint venture of southern Australia’s leading agricultural R&D organizations, will conduct the required R&D for on-farm mallee production under its “energy tree cropping" initiative. GE Aviation, meanwhile, has participated in test flights in Brazil of an Embraer 170 with both GE CF34-8E engines fueled by a 50:50 blend of biofuel and conventional jet fuel. The hydro-processed fuel was derived from camelina...
San Diego-based company to plant 75,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil
(9/14, S. Neilsen,
Bloomberg) Closely held SG Biofuels, also supported by the Inter- American Development Bank, will produce unrefined jatropha oil that will sell for $75 a barrel, President Kirk Haney said in an interview yesterday. Refined jet fuel cost about $126 a barrel in New York Harbor spot market on Sept. 12, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. High petroleum prices and government pressure to lower greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change are prompting airlines to experiment with plant-derived fuels. Grupo Aeromexico SAB de CV flew the first commercial transcontinental flight with a plant oil-kerosene blend on Aug. 2. Test flights have shown that planes can fly on fuel made with weeds, wood chips and algae. Jatropha “is the most practical way of blending with jet fuel today,” Haney said. The plant produces inedible oil and grows well in low-quality soils. The development of higher-yielding seeds is expected to bring prices down to $38 a barrel in ten years, he said. Manufacturing so-called bio-kerosene from jatropha oil is already “cost-effective” with crude oil prices at $112 a barrel, he said. SG Biofuels will develop its plantations with Bioventures Brasil in west-central Brazil, according to the statement. The seeds will be crushed into 45 million liters (11.9 million gallons) of oil once the plantations reach maturity in 2015 and then processed into fuel in the state of Sao Paulo, Haney said...
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Not a jet, but...
Navy Completes Unmanned Biofuel Flight.
(P. Bergqvist, 11/04, Flying)
The United States military is continuing its quest for a greener aircraft fleet and the Navy has now completed the first biofuel flight in an unmanned helicopter – an MQ-8B Fire Scout. Powered by a blend of JP-5 aviation fuel and a plant-based fuel, the helicopter took off from the Naval Air Station Patuxent River’s Webster Field in St. Inigoes, Maryland, controlled by the Navy’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Test Directorate. The Naval Air Systems Command Public Affairs office claims the biofuel blend “reduces carbon dioxide output by 75 percent compared to conventional aviation fuel.” Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, program executive officer for Unmanned Aviation and Strike Weapons said, “I am very pleased we can add MQ-8B to the list of successful bioflights completed at Pax River this year, bringing us one step closer to achieving the Navy’s energy goals.” One such goal is the Navy’s Great Green Fleet initiative to power its whole fleet of aircraft, ships and submarines with biofuels by 2016. Seven types of Naval aircraft, including the Blue Angels’ F/A-18s, have been tested so far. The plant-based portion of the fuel blend used in the Fire Scout flight is from the camelina plant, a member of the mustard family that has also been used as massage oil, cooking oil and lamp fuel. Camelina-based biofuel has also been successfully tested in business jets and the commercial airlines...