Boeing, Canadian aviation industry launch sustainable aviation biofuel project using forestry waste
03 December 2015
Boeing, the University of British Columbia (UBC) and SkyNRG, with support from Canada’s aviation industry and other stakeholders, are collaborating to turn leftover branches, sawdust and other forest-industry waste into sustainable aviation biofuel.
Canada, which has extensive sustainably certified forests, has long used mill and forest residues to make wood pellets that are used to generate electricity. A consortium that includes Boeing, Air Canada, WestJet, Bombardier, research institutions and industry partners will assess whether forest waste could also be harnessed to produce sustainable aviation biofuel using thermochemical processing.
Sustainable aviation biofuel will play a critical role in reducing aviation’s carbon emissions over the long term. Canada is in a terrific position to leverage its sustainable forests to make environmental progress for its aviation industry and other transport sectors.
—Julie Felgar, managing director of Environmental Strategy & Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
A 2015 Boeing-sponsored study by UBC found that aviation biofuel made from forest waste could meet 10 percent—about 46 million gallons, or 175 million liters—of British Columbia’s annual jet fuel demand. These efforts could also supply biofuel to ground and marine vehicles, saving about 1 million tons of CO2 emissions per year on a life cycle basis across the transportation sector, the study found.
This project, announced during the 2015 Canadian Bioeconomy Conference in Vancouver, was recently awarded funding by the Green Aviation Research and Development Network (GARDN) of Canada as part of a portfolio of investments in technologies to reduce aviation’s carbon emissions.
The consortium is led by UBC and NORAM Engineering and Constructors, Ltd., of Vancouver. Project partner SkyNRG, based in the Netherlands, is the global market leader for sustainable jet fuel, having supplied biofuel to more than 20 carriers worldwide.
Using sustainably produced biofuel reduces lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions by 50 to 80 percent compared to conventional petroleum fuel, according to the US Department of Energy.
As part of Boeing’s commitment to protect the environment and support long-term sustainable growth for commercial aviation, the company has active biofuel projects on six continents, including in the US, Australia, Brazil, China, Europe, Middle East, South Africa and Southeast Asia.
Now if they used dead bark beetle trees, they would reduce forest fire danger as well.
Posted by: SJC | 03 December 2015 at 09:49 AM
Agree with you SJC on a priority basis.
Secondly, a forest is just like a farm. It can be harvested selectively and regularly for centuries while reducing CO2, GHG and producing greener aviation fuels and other essential by products.
OTOH, the fossil fuel lobbies and NPPs lobbies will spend $$B to stop it.
Posted by: HarveyD | 03 December 2015 at 11:23 AM
Why would any fossil fuel spend any money lobbying against this, looking at oil that may effectively remain at $40 per barrel over the next decade, and the strangulation of PutinOil now evident?
Posted by: kalendjay | 03 December 2015 at 02:28 PM
This article is a good example of why Biofuels cannot be the main energy source of propulsion for travel. British Columbia has probably the world's greatest ratio of forests to people. Yet even it's forests are projected to only meet 10% of the Provinces needs via forest waste. To get a larger share they'd have to use whole trees. So in B.C. its a choice between wood or fuel...
Posted by: msevior | 03 December 2015 at 02:34 PM
10% can mean less imported oil and better national security.
Posted by: SJC | 03 December 2015 at 03:51 PM
Some are missing a main negative point here; when burned, biofuels still produce GHG and smog. Maybe less of it; but it's produced very high up in the atmosphere where it does the most damage. The problem isn't the fuel, it's the engines.
Airliners are good candidates for hydrogen fuel cells. Create electricity with the fuel cell and use it to power ducted electric fans; The flight attendants can use the exhaust water for coffee and tea.
BTW, there are about 5,000 aircraft flying above the U.S. at any moment in time. That's a major pollution problem that our Government doesn't even want to address.
Posted by: Lad | 03 December 2015 at 05:54 PM
Biofuels produce bio carbon that is absorbed when the plant grows, it is NOT fossil carbon sequestered long ago in the ground. Biofuels can be reformed on the vehicle to run fuel cells, producing only bio CO2.
Posted by: SJC | 04 December 2015 at 10:08 AM