Japan Airlines completes camelina biodiesel flight

Japan Airlines today completed a 90-minute flight powered by fuel with a 50-percent biodiesel blend.

Although several carriers including Virgin Atlantic Airways, Air New Zealand, and Continental Airlines have demonstrated that biodiesel can be used in jet fuel, today's journey was the first commercial flight to use camelina oil, a relatively new next-generation biofuel feedstock that's being grown in the Great Plains and Midwest regions of the U.S. (see Virgin takes off with commercial biofuel test flight and Continental Airlines to test biofuels).

Bozeman, Mont.-based Sustainable Oils supplied 10,000 gallons of camelina, which made up 84 percent of the biofuel. Jatropha oil made up less than 16 percent, while algae oil from Sapphire Energy made up the remainder.

"This was very important to demonstrate the success of camelina as biofuel crop," said Sustainable Oils General Manager Scott Johnson. "We're working on contracts with growers, so we're hopeful that the results of this aviation test will lead to a continued interest on the part of airlines in buying our oil." 

Sustainable Oils is a joint venture of Seattle, Wash., biotech company Targeted Growth and Houston, Texas-based biodiesel refiner Green Earth Fuels, formed in November 2007 to commercialize camelina-based biodiesel (see Targeted Growth, Green Fuels form biodiesel venture).

Camelina, a distant relative to Canola, can grow on marginal land, requires minimal water or fertilizer, and can be harvested with traditional equipment. Sustainable Oils is using research from Targeted Growth to modify the seed, producing higher yields that require less fertilizer and water.

See the camelina plant here »

Johnson said camelina can't be used for food, but the annual crop has advantages when used as a rotation crop for wheat farmers on land that would otherwise remain fallow.

Johnson said a couple other companies are exploring camelina as a biodiesel source, including Great Plains Oil and Exploration and Montana-based co-op Great Northern Growers.

An acre of camelina produces 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of seeds and 65 to 100 gallons of oil. The prolific crop requires just 3 to 5 pounds of those seeds to be replanted. The camelina seeds remaining after the crushing process can then be used as animal feedstock, organic matter for biomass facilities, or mulch, Johnson said.

Sustainable Oils plans to sell seeds to farmers, contract with the farmers to buy back the seed production, and sell the oil to refiners. The company is now securing farmers, crushers, distributors and refiners for the process, which would use the seeds optimized in laboratory work by Targeted Growth and Sustainable Oils.

"We're developing markets this year, and that’s why aviation fuel is important to us because that could drive us scaling up very rapidly if we have off-take agreements with the airlines," Johnson said. "We think outside that there's a significant fit for camellia as a feedstock for biodiesel."

Japan Airlines is part of a consortium of the airline industry that formed last year to require its members to use biofuels produced from nonfood sources and with minimal environmental impact. The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group also includes Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Honeywell (NYSE: HON) subsidiary UOP, as well as the commercial airlines that account for 15 percent of commercial jet-fuel use: Air France, Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cargolux, Gulf Air, Japan Airlines, KLM, SAS and Virgin Atlantic Airways (see Game-changing day for jet biofuels).

The group’s intent amounts to an endorsement of the progress being made by second-generation biofuel developers. Specifications for jet fuels are extremely stringent because the industry is more risk-averse than other transportation methods.

The camelina blend was used in the No. 3 engine made by Pratt & Whitney. The Boeing 747-300 aircraft took off from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The Japan Airlines flight carried no passengers, but the cockpit crew said there were no performance changes compared to petroleum-based jet fuel, even when accelerating and decelerating. The companies involved plans to analyze data recorded on the aircraft to determine if equivalent engine performance was seen from the biofuel blend compared to typical jet fuel.

Japan Airlines announced plans for the biodiesel flight in June (see Japan Airlines plans cellulosic biofuels flight). The company is targeting a 20 percent cut in the carbon dioxide emissions per available metric ton kilometers of its fleet by 2010, compared to 1990 levels. The company said it has already achieved a nearly 16 percent reduction since 1990.

Johnson said it was notable that the flight used three biodiesel feedstocks, showing that all have viability as drop-in substitutions for standard jet fuel.

"They want multiple sources that are nonfood based because they're concerned about sustainable production," he said. "We have to show them how quickly we can scale, also they want to know: 'Is it sustainable? Are the economics there for you, the farmers, the crushers [and] the refiners because we don’t want to go down a path and not have it work for everybody.'"

Johnson said camelina can't compete with $40 a barrel oil, but the company is hopeful that modifications to the seed can increase yields.

Camelina can be grown worldwide, another advantage, Johnson said. Sustainable Oils is exploring the crop for South America, and it's native to Eastern Europe and Asia, he said.

The company still has hurdles to overcome. Camelina is a relatively new crop, so the company is still figuring out the water and fertilizer requirements. Also, it's difficult to persuade farmers to take a chance on a new crop, but Johnson said commitments from airlines could go a  long way in providing that security.