Boeing and Algae Fuels, a Euro Perspective

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March 22, 2011

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(Algae Industry Magazine) In the aviation biofuels market, as goes Boeing, so goes the industry. Boeing was a founding member of the Algal Biomess Organization (ABO) and is committed to a future of renewable fuels. “Without biofuels we cannot get there. It is a vital contribution,” said Antonio De Palmas, Boeing’s president for EU and NATO relations, in a recent interview with Frédéric Simon for EurActive.
Some more of Mr. De Palmas’ comments to Mr. Simon from the interview:
In 2007, the R&D challenge was a central one. I think we can say now after more than three years that the product is there; the technology is there. Clearly we need more R&D to optimize the product, to increase the energy coefficient of these biofuels, but the product is there. The challenge now is to get enough biomass to refine biofuels for aviation. Biofuels for aviation are available on the market but we have to scale up the model.
We believe we need a wide portfolio of feedstocks. The test flights (have) used biofuels coming from different crops—Jatropha, Camelina, Halophytes—and we need this broad range to make the transition from second-generation biofuels to third-generation biofuels—typically algae. To make this transition, we need to have sufficient feedstock to make sure we have sufficient biomass.
… With aviation biofuels, the biggest risk is to have a patchwork type of standard that would certainly inhibit the development of an aviation biofuels market in Europe and worldwide. READ MORE and MORE (EurActiv)

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