Sugar Cane-Fueled Airliner On the Way

Sugar Cane-Fueled Airliner On the Way
By Jason Paur November 19, 2009 | 5:09 pm | Categories: Air Travel, Alt Fuel

Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer and General Electric are working with renewable fuel company Amyris to develop sugar cane-based jet fuel for airliners. They say a test flight by Brazilian airline Azul Linhas Aereas could come in early 2012.

It’s no surprise such an experiment would come in Brazil, which leads the world in the use of ethanol. The country’s sugar cane crop has led to widespread use of ethanol-powered vehicles, and Embraer produces an ethanol-powered crop duster. Sugar-based ethanol provides a better energy return than the much-debated corn ethanol common in the United States. This is the first effort to produce a sugar cane-based jet fuel for widespread use by the airlines.

Air New Zealand, Virgin, Continental and Japan Airlines have tested biofuels in Boeing aircraft. Airbus and JetBlue also are working together on alt fuels, and the Air Force wants alt-fuel too. Most biofuels have faced stiff criticism as the environmental costs of growing and producing the crops have been shown to offset some of the gains. But with airlines struggling with rising fuel costs and increased pressure on emissions, many are eager to find alternatives to petroleum.

Amyris’ synthetically derived biofuel doesn’t avoid the land use issues facing many biofuels, but it claims its technique of bioengineering microorganisms like yeast allows it to transform Brazil’s sugar cane into several renewable fuels including diesel and jet fuels.