Biojet flight tests begin in Canada

Crop technology provider for biofuel production company Agrisoma is working with several partners to test a new kind of jet biofuel in Canada.

Along with Honeywell UOP, the Canadian National Research Council and the Genome Prairie project, Agrisoma is road-testing a fuel blend derived from its Brassica carinata (Ethiopian mustard) variety Resonance.

‘Brassica carinata is drought and heat tolerant and can be grown in areas not suited for other feedstocks like canola,’ says Agrisoma’s director of regulatory and government affairs Mejda Lortie.

The test flights will take place in Ottawa and will evaluate the Resonance-based biojet fuel under a number of flight conditions to provide real-time, in-flight emissions measurements. A modified Falcon 20 twin-engined jet will be the subject, closely monitored by a T-33 chase plane equipped to measure the in-flight emissions.

‘We all assume there is a reduction in greenhouse gases emissions, but nobody has really measured it in the atmosphere,’ adds project manager at Genome Prairie Doug Lortie. "This programme is the first one that will, using our jet fuel, be able to measure the emissions during a flight.’

Testing is due to be completed in early June.