Honeywell to test jet biofuel

Honeywell is to test its Green Jet Fuel under a programme that uses a biofeedstock that has been designed especially for biofuel production.

Along with the National Research Council of Canada and Agrisoma Biosciences, test flights will be conducted in Canada along with in-flight emissions collection from an aircraft that will follow behind the plane. This will allow for the fuel’s performance to be evaluated.

The fuel is derived from a 50/50 ratio of biofuel and jet fuel that is taken from petroleum.

‘This is a unique program of test flights, given that we are using a new feedstock to produce the Honeywell Green Jet Fuel, and it will be used in higher ratio than before,’ says Jim Rekoske, VP of the Honeywell UOP’s Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit. ‘Additionally, the collection of in-flight emission will allow for further verification of the superior environmental performance of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel.’

The flights will be conducted at the end of April and will use Resonance Energy Feedstock for the fuel’s production which is a non-food industrial oilseed crop that has been produced by Agrisoma.

Derived from brassica carinata, the feedstock can be grown in semi-arid regions that cannot be used for food oilseed production, meaning it does not compete with food crops.

This particular crop for the Green Jet Fuel was grown in Kincaid, Saskatchewan during last year’s summer.

The plane that will be used for the fuel is a modified Falcon 20 twin-engine jet and previously evaluations have found that using the fuel in the plane reduced greenhouse gas emissions by between 60-85%.