Planemaker Airbus Industries is working to build a supply chain for aviation biofuel in China, months after rival Boeing said it would partner with Air China and PetroChina in a research project to develop the alternative fuel source.
While Airbus is not expected to announce a partnership until later this year, the Toulouse-based company said the project would study ways to produce biodegradable jet fuel in an economical and sustainable way and develop an effective distribution chain.
New energies programme manager Frederic Eychenne said Airbus would provide financial, technical and logistical support, but would not take part in production.
"We want to catalyse the production and commercialisation of biofuel in a sustainable way, but we are not a producer," he said.
Over the past four years Airbus has worked with airlines and other stakeholders in Germany, France, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Romania to test biofuel technology. In July, a 50-50 blend of biofuel and kerosene was approved for use in commercial and military flights by ASTM International, a US organisation that sets worldwide technical standards.
Airbus has started talks with prospective biofuel partners in Asian countries including India, Australia and China.
"Every location has its own specific solution - waste oil for India, for example; replantation for Australia," said Eychenne. "For China, we will look into jatropha and algae." Jatropha oil is vegetable oil produced from the seeds of the jatropha curcas, a plant that grows in marginal lands.
Hong Kong, a busy air hub for southern China, would provide a market for biofuel, Eychenne added.
Boeing was the first to develop aviation biofuels on the mainland, although its plan to conduct the country's first test flight using biofuel in August was postponed.
Airbus has also strengthened its ties with China. In late 2008 it opened its first assembly line outside Europe in Tianjin. Airbus China has since estimated that by 2015 the value of its transactions with Chinese customers will reach US$500 million a year.
China Eastern Airlines, one of the mainland's three largest carriers, is Airbus' biggest customer in China.
Production of jet biofuel is set to become a multibillion-dollar business as scarce supplies of fossil fuel, volatility in oil prices and tightening emission standards force airlines to look for alternative fuel sources.
The aviation industry has a target of replacing 30 per cent of its oil consumption with biofuel by 2030.
Source: The Seattle Times
