Airbus and TAROM launch Europe’s first bio-fuel ‘value-chain’

Project aims to commercialise bio-fuel made from Camelina
21 March 2011

Airbus and TAROM Romanian Air Transport together with a consortium of key stakeholders have established one of Europe's first project aiming to establish a sustainable bio-kerosene jet-fuel processing and production capability. The Romanian based project aims to provide a bio-fuel made from the camelina plant, as a renewable, sustainable substitute to fossil based jet fuel. The project is being overseen by a Romanian based Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) and Airbus is acting as the catalyst in getting the Romanian value chain for a local bio-jet fuel solution up and running.

Once feasibility studies on agricultural, technological and aeronautical development and sustainability assessment are complete, the project will also assess the existing refining facilities in order to identify the Romanian production capability. Camelina is the chosen feedstock because of its energy potential, its rotational crop qualities, its green house gas reduction potential and its low water requirements. Camelina is also indigenous to Romania, and can be readily farmed and harvested by family farmers. It has a high quality animal feed by-product.

"This is the first European based value chain project bringing together farmers, oil-refiners and an airline to spearhead the commercialisation of sustainable bio-fuel production," said Paul Nash, Airbus Head of New Energies. The Romanian Camelina Value Chain will help us further verify the sustainability and economic viability of producing bio-kerosene."

Airbus will support the fuel approval processes, and lead in assessing the effect on the aircraft systems and engines. The consortium will work together with the Bucharest University of Agronomical Sciences and Veterinary Medicine's Centre of Biotechnology (BIOTEHGEN) on the sustainable agricultural phase of the project regarding the camelina plantations, harvesting and oil production.

TAROM is leading the consortium which includes Honeywell's UOP, CCE (Camelina Company España), and Airbus. Honeywell's UOP is applying its aviation bio-fuel refining technology, CCE is contributing its knowledge on camelina agronomy, including technologies on camelina growth, agricultural monitoring networks and plant science. Airbus is providing technical and project management expertise and is sponsoring the sustainability assessment and life cycle analysis studies.

Notes for Editors:

1. The project will use diverse biomass sources as feedstock, with a special interest in the camelina plant. CCE and BIOTEHGEN are implementing various 'camelina placement trials' at different locations in Romania, with the purpose of assessing sustainability of different production models and soil types, including contaminated soil and uncultivated land, in order to identify the best techniques and genetic material.

2. A sustainability analysis will be conducted in order to prove the viability of the Romanian camelina value chain.

3. Airbus supports all industry wide efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Bio-kerosene is in the final stage of approval by ASTM in the US to be blended up to 50 percent with regular jet fuel when used in commercial flights.

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Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental Conducts Successful First Flight [w/Photos]

EATTLE, March 20, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 747-8 Intercontinental successfully began its flight test program today, taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., before several thousand employees, customers, suppliers and community leaders. The airplane landed four hours and 25 minutes later at Boeing Field in Seattle. The 747-8 Intercontinental's first flight marks the beginning of a flight test program that will finish in the fourth quarter.

With 747 Chief Pilot Mark Feuerstein and Capt. Paul Stemer at the controls, the newest member of the 747 family took off at 9:59 a.m. and landed at 2:24 p.m. local time.

"What a great privilege to be at the controls of such a great airplane on its first flight," said Feuerstein. "And what an honor to share this day with the thousands of men and women who designed and built this airplane."

Today's flight was the first of more than 600 flight hours in the test program for the new 747-8 Intercontinental. The airplane followed a route over Eastern Washington, where it underwent tests for basic handling and performance. The airplane reached a cruising altitude of 19,000 feet (5,791 meters), and a speed of up to 250 knots, or about 288 miles per hour (463 kilometers).

"This a great day for the 747-8 team and for all of Boeing. What an honor it is to see such a beautiful airplane fly," said Elizabeth Lund, vice president and general manager of the 747-8 program. "I want to thank everybody who had a hand in designing, building and preparing this airplane for flight – our engineers, our manufacturing employees, our colleagues in Boeing Fabrication, our colleagues in Boeing Test & Evaluation, our external suppliers – for all their hard work."

The 747-8 Intercontinental will have the lowest seat-mile cost of any large commercial jetliner, with 12 percent lower costs than its predecessor, the 747-400. The airplane provides 16 percent better fuel economy, 16 percent less carbon emissions per passenger and generates a 30 percent smaller noise footprint than the 747-400. The 747-8 Intercontinental applies interior features from the 787 Dreamliner that includes a new curved, upswept architecture giving passengers a greater feeling of space and comfort, while adding more room for personal belongings.

Korean Air and VIP customers have joined launch customer Lufthansa in ordering a total of 33 747-8 Intercontinentals. First delivery of the 747-8 Intercontinental is scheduled for the fourth quarter. Air China also has agreed to order five Intercontinentals, pending government approval.

The airplane is painted in a new Sunrise livery of red-orange and is a significant departure from Boeing's standard blue. The new colors honor many key Boeing customers whose cultures recognize these colors as symbols of prosperity and good luck. The Sunrise livery only will appear on the first 747-8 Intercontinental, which is scheduled to be delivered to a VIP customer at the end of the year.

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Video: Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental First Flight

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