European Advanced Biofuels Flight path Initiative

A new initiative aimed at speeding up the commercialization of aviation biofuels in Europe has been launched. The new initiative has been done through a joint collaboration with The European commission’s Services, Airbus, Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Choren Industries, Neste Oil, Biomass Technology Group and UOP. Choren Industries, Neste Oil, Biomass Technology Group and UOP are Europe’s leading biofuel producers.

The initiative, has been code named "European Advanced Biofuels Flight path" is a seen as a roadmap with clear milestones to achieve an annual production of two million tonnes of sustainably produced biofuel for aviation by 2020, according to a statement found on the European Commission energy website. The statement further says that the "Biofuels Flight path" is a shared and voluntary commitment by its members to support and promote the production, storage and distribution of sustainably produced drop-in biofuels for use in aviation. It also targets establishing appropriate financial mechanisms to support the construction of industrial "first of a kind" advanced biofuel production plants.

Aviation biofuel is a biofuel used for aircraft. According to Wikipedia, Aviation's share of the greenhouse gas emissions is poised to grow, as air travel increases and ground vehicles use more alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Boeing estimates that biofuels could reduce flight-related greenhouse-gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent. The solution would be blending algae fuels with existing jet fuel.

Boeing executives said the company is informally collaborating with leading Brazilian biofuels maker Tecbio, Aquaflow Bionomic of New Zealand and other fuel developers around the world. So far, Boeing has tested six fuels from these companies, and will probably have gone through 20 fuels "by the time we're done evaluating them." Boeing is joining other aviation-related members in the Algal Biomass Organization (ABO).

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) supports research, development and deployment of alternative fuels. IATA thinks a 6% share of sustainable 2nd generation biofuels is achievable by 2020.

Two per cent of greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity are from the aviation industry. With an increasing focus on reducing fossil fuel use to minimise climate change aircraft manufacturers are investigating the use of biofuels to power the aircraft. Biofuels are seen as the only hope for economic survival of the aviation industry as a means of achieving sustainability.

Sources: http://ec.europa.eu, www.wikipedia.org