Chicago O’Hare airport goes green with renewable jet fuel

US advanced biofuels company Gevo announced that its alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) derived from renewable isobutanol is being used today by eight commercial airlines for Fly Green Day, sponsored by the O'Hare Fuel Committee, at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.  

This event is the first time renewable jet fuel has been supplied at Chicago O'Hare using the existing airport fueling infrastructure, such as pipelines, terminals and tankage.

To date, airlines and airports have generally relied on alternative means of supplying renewable jet fuel to the wing, usually trucking jet fuel on site for blending and fueling. For today's Fly Green Day, Air BP blended Gevo's ATJ with regular fossil-based Jet A fuel, certified its quality and then supplied its customers through the airport's main fuel hydrant system.

Commercial airlines participating in today's event are:

• Lufthansa
• United Airlines
• Etihad
• Cathay Pacific Airways
• Emirates
• Japan Airlines
• Korean Air
• Atlas Air

"This is the first time we have supplied our customers with biojet produced from alcohol and demonstrates how we are working with multiple suppliers to build a leadership position in this area," said Air BP's CEO Jon Platt. "We anticipate that through this promotion we will inspire more of our customers to use lower carbon fuels."

‘The next stage’

"We are excited to be a part of this project. This is the next stage in development of our goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and move forward with the full commercial deployment of renewable jet fuel," said Thorsten Luft, VP Corporate Fuel for Lufthansa.

Gevo’s CEO, Patrick Gruber, said: "This is a significant milestone as we continue to develop our ATJ platform. We fundamentally believe that our ATJ is one of the most cost competitive bio-based jet alternatives in the market place. Leveraging existing supply infrastructure should lower the full cost to serve our end customers. Jet fuel is one of Gevo's core market segments and this represents the next step in building a profitable business from this market vertical.”