Air China flies first biofuel powered plane

Air China has launched its first demonstration flight using biofuels derived from jatropha grown in China.

The biofuel was a drop-in fuel replacement for regular jet fuel, called synthetic paraffinic kerosene, and the airline partnered with Boeing, Honeywell, Civil Aviation Administration of China, PetroChina and technology Pratt & Whitney to get the flight off the ground.

The Boeing 747 aircraft used PW4000 94-inch engines and flew on the biofuels for about one hour, without any modifications being needed to be made before the plane took off.

Alan Epstein, vice president of technology and environment at Pratt & Whitney, explains the biofuels production process to Biofuels International: ‘Oil was extracted from the jatropha plant, purified and then hydrotreated and mixed 50/50 with conventional jet fuel for the demonstration flight.’

‘Pratt & Whitney has approved the process for the use of biofuel in all of our commercial engines,’ he adds.

The companies chose drop-in biofuels because ‘the use of drop-in biofuels is the most economically viable and very low-risk approach. It's also technically feasible and doesn't require modifications to aircraft or engines,' according to Epstein.

Because the fuel is mixed with conventional jet fuel, there is also no risk of contamination.

The flight was undertaken as part of the Energy Cooperation Program’s Sustainable Biofuel Program, which is being led by Boeing and other airline industry companies. The programme is evaluating the potential to use aviation biofuels throughout China and is the first such programme to be undertaken in Asia, according to Pratt & Whitney.