Sugarcane to hit the skies

Over the last year we have heard numerous success stories of part biodiesel-fuelled aeroplane tests, the latest of which featured camelina-based fuel, and carried passengers for the first time.

Now aircraft manufacturer Embraer and US-based technology company General Electric will test fly a renewable jet fuel by early 2012 made from sugarcane developed by Californian Amyris Biotechnologies.

The test will be conducted in a jet owned and operated by Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aereas.

Brazil has the world's largest crop of sugarcane and Amyris produces its renewable fuel by synthetically altering the metabolic pathways of microorganisms, such as yeast, to engineer living factories that transform sugar into products such as diesel fuel and jet fuel.