Neste Oil to produce aviation biofuels

In Finland, Neste Oil announced that it has joined the Initiative Towards Sustainable Kerosene for Aviation (ITAKA) project, which is being funded by the EU to support the commercialization and use of renewable aviation fuel in Europe. Neste Oil’s role in the consortium will be to produce the renewable fuel used in the project.

The 36-month ITAKA project has been granted approximately €10 million of funding under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Development (2007-‘13). In addition to Neste Oil, the consortium is made up of Airbus, BIOTEHGEN, Camelina Company Espanã, CLH, EADS IW, Embraer, EPFL, MMU, SENASA, RE-CORD, and SkyNRG.

Neste Oil will produce a total of 4,000 tons of NExBTL renewable aviation fuel as part of the project, primarily from sustainably produced Spanish camelina oil, and possibly also used cooking oil. The resulting renewable fuel, together with the camelina oil used to produce it, will be certified in accordance with the European Commission-approved RSB EU RED certification system. The renewable fuel will be blended with conventional fossil aviation fuel in accordance with the appropriate ASTM standard to create a 50/50 blend that will then be distributed to European airlines for use on their commercial flights.

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