Airbus, TAM, Curcas, Ecodiesel partner in jatropha jet fuel project in Brazil
In Brazil, Airbus, TAM Airlines, and a group of specialist companies are working to establish a bio-kerosene jet-fuel processing plant in Brazil, aiming to gradually substitute fossil fuel in aviation with biofuel., following a November 22nd TAM Airbus A320 was used for a first biofuel flight in Latin America. The group of companies is led by Curcas which specializes in Brazilian renewable energy project development, and the Brazilian biofuel producer, Brasil Ecodiesel.
In parallel, Airbus and AirBP – the jet fuel distribution unit of BP – are providing their support to the project. The project will use diverse biomass sources as feedstock, with a special interest in the jatropha plant, grown by family farmers and large plantations in Brazil. TAM is implementing a ‘jatropha placement trial’ at its Technology Center in São Carlos, Brazil with the purpose of assessing sustainability of different production models in order to identify the best techniques and genetic material. The sustainability studies will be conducted at Yale University in the US. The processing plant should start operations in 2013 with initial processing capacity of 80,000 tonnes per year.
Category: Fuels
