Airbus Tests Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils For Possible Biofuel Source.

Flight Daily News (6/16, Sedlák) reported, "Airbus expects within about three months to make a decision regarding tests of hydrogenated vegetable oils in biofuel demonstrations." Ross Walker, Airbus' engineering program manager of alternative fuels "said examining how fuels made from such oils would advance the certification process of biofuels, and the availability of material used in the testing are factors in the decision." Walker said the tests "would use fuel sourced from 100% of a feedstock rather than a mix or blend."

Airbus, Boeing Consider Dueling Engine Technologies Next Generation Jetliners.

Flight Daily News (6/16, Pilling) reported that "Airbus and Boeing have a big dilemma on which engine technology they should select for the new aircraft generation to replace the best-selling A320 and 737 families: advanced but 'conventional' turbofans or the futuristic-looking open rotor?" The article noted that "the problem for Airbus and Boeing is that some airlines are demanding a new narrowbody choice with radically improved economics sooner rather than later." Engine-maker "CFM says it will be ready with its all-new Leap-X engine in 2016," which "will offer up to 16% better fuel burn and 50-60% lower NOx emissions compared with today's best CFM56s." However, "open rotor technology could offer a lot more. Fuel burn could be 26% better with NOx levels similar to Leap-X, although a CFM open rotor engine could not enter service until late into the next decade."


Flight Tests Show Biofuel Blends Perform Better Than Regular Fuel.

In the "Environmental Capital" blog for the Wall Street Journal (6/18, subscription required), Angel Gonzalez writes, "A consortium made up of Boeing, engine makers and commercial airlines says that veggie fuel is not only good for the airplanes' carbon footprint -- it actually performs as well, if not better, than its petroleum-based equivalent." Several different blends of jatropha, camelina, and algae were tested, but all were noted by Gonzalez as "drop-in" biofuels, meaning "engines didn't require modification. Boeing says the blends didn't damage the equipment, and actually proved to have more oomph, or 'greater energy content' than standard jet fuel." The freezing point of the blends were also lower than the standards fuels. However, Gonzalez comments, "There's one final, but kind of important, point: The cost of producing biofuels remains higher than the cost of jet fuel."

Flight Daily News (6/17, O'Keefe) reported that Boeing reported a 50:50 blend of biofuels with Jet A could "bring efficiency improvements in the range of 1-2%, and use of the biofuel camelina could offer an 80% CO2 reduction over its lifecycle." Bill Glover, Boeing Commercial Airplanes managing director of environmental strategy, "said camelina 'could be the first available' as it can be grown in temperate climates as a rotation crop." The article noted Glover also "singled out algae as a 'very promising' feedstock but admitted that scale production was probably eight to 10 years away."