To go green in aviation fuel, Boeing looks at algae
Source: Seattle Times ()
Once reluctant to believe that alternative energy made any sense in jet airplanes, Boeing now ponders how to take the biofuels revolution off the ground.
The world’s largest airplane maker is working with fuel developers from around the world to find the holy grail of alternative fuels: one that will shrink jet flight’s substantial environmental footprint without requiring an overhaul of the world’s existing airplane fleet.
“Two years ago we were quite skeptical of this whole area, because we thought there were too many challenges,” said Bill Glover, environmental strategy director for Boeing’s commercial plane division. “Then we started to see a few things we hadn’t seen before, people entering the field looking at alternatives, all kinds of feedstock.”
Sometime next year, the company, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic and engine maker GE Aviation, plans to fly a biofuel-propelled 747.
The company is currently testing biofuels from different origins, ranging from soybeans — a well established source of biodiesel — to algae. The perfect compound would help stave off global warming without compromising economic growth.
“The first big step is to have a fuel that will go into today’s airplanes and today’s infrastructure seamlessly,” Glover said.
But it’s not an easy task. First, unlike ethanol, the ideal fuel would need to pack the same energy punch that fossil fuels do. Second, it must remain liquid at the low temperatures that surround an aircraft in flight — biofuels tend to solidify more quickly than their fossil-derived equivalent.
Third, producing it in quantities to feed jets’ enormous appetite must be environmentally sustainable as well — which bodes badly for fuels derived from land-hungry crops such as soybean.
There’s hope, though, in futuristic crops such as algae, Boeing executives say.
Flying each passenger on a Seattle-Washington D.C. flight consumes 29 gallons of jet fuel, says Boeing. That would require a half acre of soy beans.
“You would have to plant an area the size of Florida with soy beans to provide a 15 percent blend of jet fuel” for the whole U.S. aircraft fleet, said Dave Daggett, who heads energy and emissions research at Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ product development unit. “Clearly that’s not going to be appropriate.”
Growing fast, adapting slowly
The world’s airline industry is being pushed towards alternative fuels by governments, environmentalists, and its own rapid expansion.
Currently the industry is responsible for about 11 percent of greenhouse gases emitted by the U.S. transportation sector, while automobiles account for 56 percent, according to a Federal Aviation Administration document. But aviation’s share of the greenhouse gas pie is poised to grow, as air travel increases and ground vehicles are already beginning to embrace alternative fuels like ethanol and biodiesel.
The global jet fleet is projected to double to 36,420 airplanes by 2026, according to a Boeing report.
In early August, environmental activists protested ongoing expansion at Heathrow, one of Europe’s busiest airports. Earlier this year, British officials scolded airlines for not taking global warming seriously. In December, the European Commission proposed including airlines in its carbon emissions quota system.
Higher fuel costs are also driving airlines’ interest. But the alternatives are more difficult to implement than in the automobile industry, experts say.
Safety is a prime concern. “Any change in fuel specifications is a huge issue for the industry,” said Paul O’Neill, a London-based airline industry expert with Deloitte. “If you get adulterated or bad fuel, the aircraft might drop out of the sky.”
A Call for Zero Emissions
The pressure, however, has nudged the sector to at least envisage reform. At an industry meeting in Vancouver last spring, the chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani, declared that by 2050 “air transport must aim to become an industry that does not pollute — zero emissions.”
Experts say that even half a century is too little to meet that goal, although a gradual approach is likely to occurs. New aircraft technology helps: Boeing’s 787 jet produces 20 percent lower emissions per passenger than similar-sized planes, the company says. But replacing the entire global fleet with new planes is impossibly costly. Other clean fuels, such as hydrogen, would require transforming both planes and airports, the experts say.
Boeing estimates that biofuels could reduce flight-related greenhouse gas emissions by 60 to 80 percent. That figure takes into account not only a lower emissions rate, but also the carbon dioxide absorbed by the vegetable crops used in producing the biofuel.
Some types of drop-in non-petroleum jet fuels have been used for years. South Africa, subject to an oil embargo prior to the end of the apartheid, developed a coal-based jet fuel still in use today. But it generates no less carbon dioxide than petroleum-based jet fuel.
Airlines will most likely start by blending small quantities of biofuels with existing jet fuel, and increase the level as availability increases, said Boeing’s Daggett.
The fuel Boeing seeks in its testing would ideally contain 50 percent of bio-jetfuel, with a minimum level of 20 percent.
Projects underway
Boeing is already testing several biofuel candidates in collaboration with developers from around the world.
Leading Brazilian biofuels maker Tecbio said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing to develop an alternative jet fuel.
“At the moment we are accomplishing test in laboratory of biokerosene (biojetefuel) samples elaborated here in Brazil, and they are sent systematically to Boeing’s laboratory in Seattle,” said Chief Executive Expedito Parente in an e-mail interview.
In July, a New Zealand newspaper reported that Aquaflow Bionomic, a renewable energy start-up, is jointly developing an algae-based jetfuel with Boeing, but the company wouldn’t comment.
Boeing executives said the company was collaborating with TecBio, Aquaflow and other fuel developers around the world, but no formal agreements existed. Boeing has so far tested six different fuels from these companies, and will probably have gone through 20 fuels “by the time we’re done evaluating them,” Daggett said.
Testing could wrap up in early fall, said a spokesman, “but no specific timetable has been established.”
One man’s pond scum, another’s energy promise
Boeing executives say that the biofuel of the future not only needs to be effective — it also needs to be available in enough quantities and produced in a sustainable way.
“The biggest challenge right now is whether you can grow enough biomaterial to make enough jetfuel,” said Daggett.
It would take a lot of land to produce enough crops like soybeans to propel fuel-hungry jets. The increasing use of crops like corn and soybean to produce ethanol and biodiesel is already stirring a controversy of its own. Some argue these biofuels are creating a negative impact on the environment and on food prices.
The solution could lie in the algae, experts say. These slimy aquatic creatures not only absorb great quantities of carbon dioxide during their lifetime, but they are also the source of energy-rich oil that can be turned into fuel. Lurking in the depths of their ponds, they take a lot less space than horizontal conventional above-ground crops — and they can live in brackish water. A huge algae bio-reactor — a series of chambers or ponds outfitted to boost growth — could supply more fuel in less space than other plants.
“Instead of needing all of Florida (for US transport needs), you could provide the whole world’s fleet with biojet fuel if you had a bio-reactor the size of Maryland,” Daggett said.
Daggett estimates that a pilot plant for algae-based fuel could be in place in a year or so. “I think within 10 years we could see biofuel produced from algae,” he said.
It’s likely, though, that different countries will find their own solutions. The nuts of the babassu palm, abundant in Brazil, offer a “pretty good yield per hectare” and could be an eco-friendly solution if used to reclaim land ravaged by deforestation in South America, Daggett said.
Ángel González: 206-515-5644 or agonzalez@seattletimes.com
Seattle Times reporters Kristi Heim and Dominic Gates contributed to this story