Looking for Fuel Solutions in Aviation

Camelina Sativa Plant.

The transport sector is one of the largest contributor to the emission of GHG (greenhouse Gases). Only the aviation industry accounts for 2% of emissions, and to meet environmental policies which require that by 2020 transport fuel is composed of 10% biofuels, was forced to invest in research and development of potential sources of "green fuel" for aviation, which are an alternative to the conventional use of fossil fuels in order to ensure its sustainability.  



We obtained good results with various types of plants and algae, some were discarded due to issues related to greater difficulty in producing plant, oil extraction and especially with the fact that agricultural land use in the cultivation of biofuel rather than food production . 

Sea found most viable solution, Camelina sativa (common name: false flax, wild sesame), a plant that does not interfere with food production and is virtually 100% profitable. The oil obtained in association with coal, produces a "clean", the remaining parts can be used to the production of omega-3 to feed high quality cardboard and glycerin. This plant can be grown on marginal land in cereal crop rotation (increasing the yield of subsequent crops such as wheat, 15%) in culture associated with peas (is proven to increase the production of their own peas, caused by nitrogen fixation promoted by Camelina sativa). 

In recent years the U.S. and Canada, began large-scale production of Camelina sativa, the first major company linked to production and processing of this plant appears exactly in the U.S., "Great Plains Oil & Exploration", in Europe its production was limited to To date, the lack of facilities capable of producing these synthetic fuels in commercial quantities due to the real needs of airlines such as KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Japan Airlines began to adapt the engine to use this type of fuel, there is a pioneering project in Portugal.

The "Quickturn the Aviation Services", together with a Dutch counterpart, started to contract in the medium to long term with the Portuguese producers to purchase this plant.  

"We believe that this is a very beneficial association between the Portuguese producers of biofuels and the market for aviation, the production of this plant not only help create conditions for greater sustainability in the field, and creates a source of revenue for producers as we go through difficulties arising from the constantly changing weather and competition from foreign producers »- said Tania Chora. 


source: AJAP / author : Tânia Chora ( Manager for Biofuel at Quickturn S.A.)


Special thanks to Eng. Tania Chora
This is posted with the permission of the author.