Malaysian Airlines to switch to biofuels as soon as they are economically viable

In Malaysia, Malaysia Airlines indicated that the airline expects to convert to biofuels as soon as they reach commercial viability in Southeast Asia. The airline’s CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala made the comments while launching a “MAS Goes Green” initiative, which channels voluntary funds from customers into a Forest Research Institute-managed trust fund for sanctioned forest conservation projects.

In the Netherlands, Air France-KLM announced an agreement with Algae-Link to procure algae oil to be blended with conventional jet fuel. Deliveries of algae oil will commence by the end of 2008, according to Algae-Link executives, but quantities were not disclosed.

Airbus and Honeywell recently announced a partnership that they said would replace up to 30 percent of jet fuel with biofuels. The partnership, which also includes Jet Blue and the International Aero Engines consortium, said that they would produce biofuels from algae and other non-food vegetable oils. The International Aero Engines consortium included Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. Fuels will be developed by Honeywell UOP, which last year won a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) to develop biofuels for the US military.

The partnership establishes the second biojetfuel consortium. Virgin, Continental, General Electric, and Air New Zealand are also conducting trials.

Continental Airlines will become the first US airliner to conduct a biofuels test flight.
The company announced that, in partnership with GE and Boeing, it would
schedule a test biofuels flight in 2008. The companies said that the
test would include a different set of feedstocks than those tested in
the historic Virgin Atlantic flight, which included babassu and coconut
oil.

The companies would test up to 50 percent biodiesel, compared to the B20 blend used in the Virgin flight. Air New Zealand will also be testing feedstocks and blends in a flight scheduled for later this year.

The World Development Movement called the recent Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight a “publicity stunt with dangerous consequences for the planet” and said that Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson “should back a campaign to include aviation in the climate change bill.”

Sir Richard Branson, in remarks surrounding the Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight, said that algae would almost certainly be the feedstock for commercial aviation biofuels, implying that the selection of coconut and babassu oil had been made in light of an algae oil shortage. Branson announced a new business unit of Virgin Atlantic Airways that would produce algae-based biofuels for the airline’s use. Branson told reporters that algae is the best fuel feedstock because it does not affect food supply. He said that his company is “talking to a lot of sewage plants about setting up algae plants above and using a lot of
the CO2 coming off those sewage plants” and said that using CO2 to produce algae for low-emission fuels was a “a double-whammy effect.”

IATA has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient
by 2022, and “zero emission” planes within 50 years, but with airlines
expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years,
such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet
growth. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air
transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside
safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great
global industry. Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon
footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air
transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the
way to a carbon emission free future.

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