Lufthansa fly transatlantic on biofuel

On Thursday 12 January German carrier Lufthansa marked the end of their trial of biofuel by flying across the atlantic using a fuel blended with Jatropha-based biofuel.

For the past six months Lufthansa has been trialling biofuel on domestic flights. The company said it had operated 1,187 domestic flights between Frankfurt and Hamburg using a 50/50 blend of regular fuel and bio-kerosene in one of the plane's two engines.

Results suggest the flights saved a total of 1,471 tonnes of CO₂ from being released into the atmosphere.

“Our burnFAIR project went off smoothly and to our fullest satisfaction. As expected, biofuel proved its worth in daily flight operations,” said Joachim Buse, Vice President of Aviation Biofuel at Lufthansa.

But he added that Lufthansa would not make regular use of the biofuel, which was made using Jatropha plants grown in Indonesia, until global production increased to a level that could support routine operations.

“As a next step, we will focus on the suitability, availability, sustainability and certification of raw materials. But first we must tap into this market. However, Lufthansa will only continue the practical trial if we are able to secure the volume of sustainable, certified raw materials required in order to maintain routine operations,” he added.

Airlines must reduce their net CO₂ emissions by 50 per cent by the year 2050 compared to 2005 and biofuels are seen as a major part of the solution.

Thanks to the higher energy density of biofuel, it has been possible to reduce the fuel consumption by more than one per cent said the company. Furthermore, bio-kerosene is free of sulphur and aromatic compounds and emits about 50 per cent less CO₂ than conventional fossil fuels.

NNFCC is working closely with British Airways who are planning to produce aviation biofuel from gasified waste at a site near London, for more information read the case study.