$70 Billion Investment Required to Meet Aviation Biofuel Ambitions, although Industry denies Setting Target

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May 17, 2011

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(GreenAirOnline) An investment of up to $70 billion will be required to meet aviation biofuel targets, and is needed now, said Mitch Hawkins, the CEO of BioJet International, a company that aims to become a leading global feedstock producer and supplier of renewable jet fuel. Speaking at this week’s IATA Aviation Fuel Forum in Singapore, he noted the industry had set a target of 6 per cent of jet fuel coming from sustainable biofuels by 2020 but because of the lead times involved, he said the multi-billion investment would have to start flowing immediately to achieve the goal. The EU recently set out its ambitions for biofuels to make up 40 per cent of the overall aviation mix by 2050. Meanwhile, the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), the industry umbrella organisation, has since clarified its position on aviation biofuel targets, saying they had not been set.
Hawkins told the conference he had based his calculation on the overall investment needed by using just one of the identified feedstocks of jatropha, camelina, algae or waste biomass. Using jatropha as the main feedstock, for example, would require an investment of around $30 billion to fund 2,000 farms of 10,000 hectares each, he said. Similarly, if it was camelina then an investment of $34 billion would be needed to cover 8,500 farms. In addition, he estimated $34 billion would be required to build 67 bio-refining plants at a cost of $350 million to $500 million each. READ MORE

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