…Mabus pointed out that the oil shocks cost the US Navy in terms of readiness and operation. “The only place we’ve got to go get that money is operations or training, so our ships steam less, our planes fly less, we train our sailors and Marines less.”

His focus, he insists, is not on the adoption of renewable energy for reasons of reducing carbon emissions, but US naval preparedness. “We’re moving away from it for one reason, that is it makes us better war fighters. We would never give these countries the opportunities to build our ships, our aircraft, our ground vehicles, but we give them a vote in whether those ships sail and whether those aircraft fly or those ground vehicles operate when we allow them to set the price and the supply of our energy and we’ve just got to move away from it.”

…”In the 1850s, we went from sail to coal. In the early part of the 20th century, we went from coal to oil. In the 50s, we pioneered nuclear. We were the first service, first people to ever use nuclear power for transportation. And now, we’re changing it again. And every single time, from the 1850s to today, you’ve got nay sayers, they say you’re trading one form of energy that you know about, that’s predictable, that’s affordable for another that’s not and you just shouldn’t do it. And every single time, they’ve been wrong and I’m absolutely confident they’re going to be wrong again.

…(C)ould airlines, that are urgently seeking affordable aviation biofuels, provide the financing, in the form of advanced payments for aviation biofuel orders?

Here’s how such a scheme might work. (In our example, we are using a $400 million, 38 million gallon plant producing in-spec aviation biofuels at $4 per gallon. Actual project capital requirements may vary.)

Step 1. A consortium of 10 airlines each provide $30 million, which will ultimately pay for 7.5 million gallon initial orders at $4 per gallon, for each airline. …

Step 2. Working with the USDA, the project secures a 15-year, affordable feedstock supply; the airlines provide 15-year off take contracts, with the US Navy providing a backup off take guarantee on the full faith and credit of the United States.

Step 3. A 38 million-gallon advanced aviation biofuel facility is constructed using the airline financing and project equity.

Step 4. Following completion, start-up and demonstration of the facility – essentially, taking out the technology risk – the project is refinanced at commercially-viable rates using the traditional project lending sources, or the bond market.

Step 5. The airline’s debt portion is converted to pre-paid orders, and the 38 million gallon facility delivers 75 million gallons of fuel to the airline buyers over a two-year period.

Step 6. Following completion of step four, the project moves to a “business as usual” relationship with its buyers.   READ MORE and MORE  and MORE (C-SPAN/Q&A.org)

The home-grown biofuel program, which has been under way for several years, is part of a broader strategy to increase US military fuel security and reduce reliance on foreign oil by raising energy efficiency levels in the armed forces and finding cost-effective alternatives to fuel refined from oil.

To demonstrate the strides made, the US Navy says it will deploy a ”green strike group” when the US and partner navies gather later this year for the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, the world’s largest international maritime manoeuvres.

…This time, planes on the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, along with two escorting destroyers and a cruiser, will run on a 50-50 blend of biofuel and regular petroleum fuel during the sea exercises.  READ MORE

For deficit-burdened governments, allocating public money to help feedstock providers plant energy crops and fuel producers build biorefineries may not get the priority aviation wants. And without considerable government support for continued research and early commercialization—and for the military to act as the “first adopter”—aviation will miss its targets in increasing biofuel use and reducing carbon emissions.

…The most sustained and rigorous airline trial to date, Lufthansa’s BurnFair project consumed more than 1,500 metric tons of blended fuel in 1,187 flights between July 15 and Dec. 21, reducing carbon-dioxide emissions by a calculated 1,471 metric tons—almost a 60% saving over conventional kerosene. The biofuel used was supplied by Finland’s Neste Oil and derived from camelina (80%), jatropha (15%) and animal fat (5%).

The $8.5 million project was supported with $3.2 million in subsidies from the German government, which helped offset a biofuel price a bit more than double that of conventional jet fuel. While the Lufthansa trial found no technical barriers to use, it did show that hydrotreated renewable jet fuel provides a 1% energy benefit over conventional kerosene.  READ MORE

The “Path to Alternative Jet Fuel Readiness” briefing document was developed by the CAAFI R&D Team to outline the process of fuel development, qualification and certification and the role of CAAFI in facilitating the process. It is intended for use by individuals and organizations interested in producing alternative fuels.

The “Path to Fuel Readiness” document provides information on how to become involved with the aviation community, the testing and environmental evaluations required to show the fuel’s suitability for aviation use, and how to best facilitate ASTM International certification for a new fuel.

The “Path to Fuel Readiness” document also refers to several CAAFI communication tools designed to aid in the communication of both the necessary steps to be taken and the progress of alternative jet fuel projects:

1. the Fuel Readiness Level (or FRL) provides guidance on fuel technical development and certification testing;
2. the FRL Exit Criteria, a checklist detailing what is performed at each FRL level;
3. the Feedstock Readiness Level (FSRL) Tool, developed in collaboration with the US Department of Agriculture. tracks development and availability of the raw materials (or feedstocks) required to make alternative jet fuels;
4. the Environmental Progression provides guidance on performance of necessary environmental analyses.

These documents are outlined and available HERE.  READ MORE 

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates becomes the first airline to fly directly from an airplane manufacturer on biofuel and also the first Middle Eastern carrier to fly on sustainable bio-derived jet fuel.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer commented: “Today’s flight marks a significant milestone in our efforts to support and drive the commercialisation of sustainable aviation fuel in Abu Dhabi, the region, and globally. However, the use of a presently available biofuel is just one part of a more comprehensive long-term biofuel strategy to ensure that we are able to use biofuels to decarbonise substantially an entire industry sector in the long term.”

“We think the Middle East has great potential to give a critical boost towards making a market for sustainable jet fuel that is affordable. With this flight Etihad Airways has taken a fantastic step, particularly in increasing awareness within the region. There is a lot more to come in this continent and we are determined to be there when that happens.” Says Dirk Kronemeijer, Managing Director SkyNRG.  READ MORE and MORE (Zawya)

Speaking in Washington Jan. 13, LH VP aviation fuel Joachim Buse said the airline’s burnFAIR project has proved that biofuels are completely feasible for commercial flights from a technological standpoint. The issue is how to produce sufficient and sustainable feedstocks at a viable cost. “From now on, it’s purely a commercial issue,” Buse told ATW.

Buse was speaking a day after the first biofuel-powered transatlantic commercial flight into the US–an LH scheduled flight from Frankfurt to Washington Jan. 12 using a Boeing 747-400 (ATW Daily News, Jan.16). The aircraft carried about 40 tons of biosynthetic fuel mix.

…Some of the plants that provide the bases of biofuels take up to four years to establish and their yields must be increased to make them viable because they currently cost about two-and-a-half times the price of conventional fuel. READ MORE

…It (SG Biofuels) has announced the signing of customers for the deployment of 250,000 acres of Jatropha using its JMax hybrid seeds. This includes an agreement with Bharat Renewable Energy Limited (BREL), a joint venture of Bharat Petroleum, India’s second largest petroleum company, as well as JETBIO, leader of a multi-stakeholder initiative including Airbus, the Inter-American Development Bank, and TAM Airlines, to deploy Jatropha in Brazil for the production of bio jet fuel.

Where are the acres?   The 250,000 acre figure refers to pre-orders. In its model, SG Biofuels signs an agreement to establish a trial, in many cases paid for (or contributed to by) the customer. If the trial hits milestones in terms of yield and cost, then the customer agrees to order seed from SGB to cover commitments for a given acreage.

In addition to the company’s main R&D center in Guatemala, there are trials in the ground in India with Bharat, and in Mato Grosso del Sur in Brazil with the JetBio consortium.  In terms of the 88,000 acre (35,000 hectare) pre-order from Bharat, “the trials are in the ground, the data is coming back, the plants are performing,” said Haney.

“The trial in Brazil with JetBio, also performing very well, and that represents a 74,000 acre (30,000 hectare) order from them.

…We asked Haney about his sales process. Who is calling on growers? “In our business development model, we very rarely call directly on growers; we focus on the buyers of the oil, who have the global energy demand, the mandates. As we are able to push them, we get pull with growers. If you know you have a downstream market, and you know from the trials done in your micro-climate that the crop works, that creates the buzz with the growers. I am a grower myself, with 50,000 hectares of teak plantation in Central America that we developed. I know how finicky growers can be. You need a return. But if you bring a grower where the price is set, and the downstream customer is there, you have shifted risk off their balance sheet; you’ve hedged them properly and they will respond.”  READ MORE and MORE (Biodiesel Magazine)

The plan for American-produced biofuels that Vilsack outlined before business and airline industry officials is aimed at creating thousands of jobs, especially in the rural economy; establishing energy security by reducing dependence on foreign oil; and slowing global warming, he said.

“The beauty of this is that it stimulates what America does best: innovation,” Vilsack told a business round table held at Boeing Co.headquarters in the Loop.  ”It makes a lot more sense to buy (energy) from the farmer down the road” than rely on overseas markets, he added.

…Billy Glover, Boeing’s vice president of environment and aviation policy, said it’s difficult to make predictions, but the key to lowering the price rests with increasing production.

“We are just at the beginning of a very exciting biofuel industry,” Glover said.     READ MORE and MORE (Farm Futures)  and MORE (Biofuels Digest)