China looks to Boeing for Help to Develop an Algae-Fueled Airline
Boeing is looking to partner with several Chinese organizations in order to develop a biofuel (possibly algae-based) for Chinese airlines.
EIJING – The United States and China launched a research venture Wednesday to develop biofuels for use by Chinese airlines based on algae or oily nuts and said an inaugural flight could come as early as this year.
The announcement of a series of research partnerships follows a pledge this week by the governments at a high-level meeting to cooperate closely in renewable energy, which both said was essential to fight climate changeand could spur new industries.
“Renewable energy development is central to our cooperation with China,” David Sandalow, a U.S. assistant secretary of energy, said at a conference on renewable fuel.
(…)
The first flight in China using biofuels could happen this year, and the fuel could be in use in commercial aviation in three to five years, said Al Bryant, Boeing’s vice president for research and technology in China. He said four test flights using biofuels have been flown successfully in the United States.
“Today we’ve proven it can be flown,” Bryant said. “It’s a matter of scaling it up so it can be commercialized.”
