British Airways Commits to Use Fuel from Waste

Date: February 16, 2010

Source: News Room

British Airways said it has signed a deal to purchase jet fuel to be produced from biomass by US-based Solena Group (Washington, DC) at a plant expected to be sited in London and operational by 2014. The plant would convert 500,000 tons of waste annually into 16 million gallons of green jet fuel that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions compared with burning normal jet fuel, also called kerosene. Solena employs plasma gasification to convert biomass, food and other waste materials into hydrogen (synthesis gas) and then converts the synthesis gas into liquid fuel via the Fischer-Tropsch process. BA predicts that the 16 million gallons produced would account for 2 percent of its annual consumption at London's Heathrow airport. The company aims to obtain 10 percent of all its jet fuel from renewable waste-to-fuel processes and cut net carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050.

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