The company British Airways has announced a partnership with the American energy group Solena to build a bio-aviation fuel production plant. This project is part of the airline’s aim to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050.
As electric planes arrive on the market, British Airways goes into 100 % biofuel.
In partnership with the American energy group Solena, the airline wants to build a bio-aviation fuel plant in East London.
Using waste materials coming from various local facilities, the plant should be able to produce a biofuel that emits 95% less CO2 than classic aviation fuel.
Creating a 100%-green production chain for aviation
The plant, capable of treating 500,000 tons of waste per year, could produce more than 60 million litres of green fuel, mainly thanks to the Fischer-Tropsch process, which converts carbon monoxide and hydrogen into hydrocarbon.
This project, which is meant to be 100% green, should also decrease CO2 emissions by reducing the methane production linked to the waste treatment and allow the generation of 20MW of electricity per year.
Flying with biofuel would thus appear to be the priority line of development for the air transport sector. In 2009, the companies Air Continental and KLM both carried out test flights using 50% green fuel, while the start of 2010 saw Quatar Airways and Airbus launch a biofuel research centre called the “Qatar Advanced Biofuel Platform” (QABP).
British Airways has signed an agreement in principle with Solena, in which it commits to buying the plant’s total fuel production to supply its fleet by 2014 and is now awaiting the official certification that will permit it to use the fuel produced.
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