Commercial Aviation Approved To Use A 50 Percent Blend Of Hydro
Processed Biofuel In Planes
Biobased
jet fuel may be poised for significant growth in the commercial
market as the ASTM International Committee on Petroleum Products
and Lubricants has approved the addition of an annex to the biojet
fuel specification D7566. Titled "Standard Specification for
Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons," the
annex will set fuel properties for hydroprocessed esters and fatty
acids fuel derived from biomass feedstocks such as camelina,
jatropha or algae, as well as production control criteria of the
fuel for aviation use.
The vote concludes the technical review process, and final
issuance of the revised specification was released in early July.
Airlines can use a 50 percent blend of Fischer-Tropsch -- or
hydroprocessed ester-derived biojet fuel in their planes
immediately.
ASTM's decision to amend the jet fuel specification was welcomed by
various stakeholders within the aviation fuel supply chain, most
notably the Air Transport Association of America Inc., the industry
trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines. According to John
Heimlich, vice president and chief economist for the ATA, it will
take time for significant volumes of biojet fuel to enter the
market due to competitive hurdles, petroleum price volatility and
scarcity of financing for fuel production facilities and other
factors, "but there are reasons to expect up to 1 billion gallons
of biofuel to be in annual production by 2020," he says in an email
correspondence. Heimlich says that the worldwide airline industry
is projected to spend approximately $176 billion on conventional
jet fuel this year.
"A plethora of U.S. and non-U.S. airlines have worked tirelessly
together and with the military to facilitate the development and
deployment of alternative aviation fuels," Heimlich says. "That
work has clearly paid off."
While the latest ASTM certification will undoubtedly help
end-users such as airlines to use a cleaner-burning fuel in their
engines, it will also play an important role in opening the market
for prominent biobased jet fuel producers and technology players.
Honeywell's UOP, for example, has played an active role in
supplying its fuel for testing by various original equipment
manufacturers airlines, airports and other participating
stakeholders for several years within the aviation fuel supply
chain.
According to Jim Rekoske, UOP's vice president for renewable
energy and chemicals, UOP intends to continue its commitment of
providing biobased jet fuel and of being proactive in addressing
the demand by opening discussions with domestic and international
parties interested in potentially licensing its technology to
build, own and operate biobased jet fuel production facilities in
North America, Asia, Europe and India.
"The demand signal is now coming from the backend of [the
aviation fuel supply chain] and it's now coming in force with the
ASTM approval," Rekoske tells Biodiesel Magazine. "What it's going
to take is some time for that demand signal to work its way forward
into the front part of the chain so that the raw materials can be
readily accessible, the conversion facilities can be built and
operational and so on. That's really the lag we're working
with."