AirChina biofuel flightBoeing, in collaboration with Air China and PetroChina, is planning to go ahead with a second biofuel test during the third quarter of 2012.

The flight test is scheduled to take place over the trans-Pacific region, and is expected to be longer in duration than the first test that was carried out in China in October 2011.

Boeing’s China and North America biofuel strategy team regional director Stephen Emmert was quoted by Reuters as saying that the project aimed to prove that a China-produced biofuel works, and to ‘ensure regulators and airlines around the world are comfortable using it for commercial flights’.

During the test, an aircraft will be powered by a biofuel derived from jatropha shrub, a plant grown and processed in China, which will be produced by PetroChina.

“The project aims to prove that a China-produced biofuel works.”

Boeing’s China operations head Marc Allen said: "China has a need [for cleaner fuels] like the rest of the world that is very real."

"They have [an economic] scale that many parts of the world cannot match." Allen added. "They have fast growing technological capability that will allow them to be on the forefront on these initiatives."

The companies performed their first biofuel test last year using the same fuel blended with traditional jet fuel, powering a Boeing 747-400.

Air China and Boeing are also planning for an international biofuel flight between the US and China, further improving the cooperation on renewable energy development between the two nations.


Image: Air China aircraft during the first biofuel test conducted in October 2011. Image: courtesy of Boeing.