Germany’s Lufthansa starts daily biofuel flights

Market: Biofuels, Emissions, Oil products
15/07/11

Hamburg, 15 July (Argus) — German airline Lufthansa started regular biofuel-powered flights today as part of a six-month trial to probe the technical and economical feasibility of alternative aviation fuels.

The carrier will operate eight daily flights using the fuel on its domestic route between Hamburg and Frankfurt on an Airbus A321, with the aim of running 1,400 such flights during the trial period. One engine in aircrafts flying the route will be run on a 50:50 mix of regular fuel and biosynthetic kerosine.

The fuel is manufactured by Finnish refiner Neste Oil from a blend sourced 15pc from jatropha, 80pc from camelina and 5pc from animal fats. It can be used on any type of aircraft without further engine modification. Lufthansa has stored 800t of the pre-mixed biosynthetic fuel in tank in Hamburg.

Lufthansa and Neste estimate that the biojet costs roughly double the price of standard jet kerosine, although other airlines have estimated the price of biojet at up to six times the price of standard jet fuel.

But Lufthansa maintains that biojet will not leave it at any economic disadvantage when jet prices are over $85/bl. The German airline says that its biojet has 2-3pc more energy content then regular biodiesel.

The company hopes to save 1,500t of carbon emissions by using biofuels as it prepares to join the EU emissions trading scheme (ETS), which becomes mandatory for airlines flying in and out of Europe from 2012. The company can reduce part of its EU ETS requirements through the use of biofuels, and it started trading carbon emissions permits on the Leipzig-based EEX energy exchange this year.

Neste said it is close to starting up its new 800,0000 t/yr NexBTL plant in Rotterdam, which will give the refiner four production plants with a total capacity of 2mn t/yr for its proprietary NexBTL renewable diesel. The firm says its technology gives it the flexibility to switch between producing renewable diesel for road use or aviation fuel.

Lufthansa estimates the cost of its six-month trial at €6.6mn ($9.3mn), with €2.5mn subsidised by the German government as part of a wider research project into emerging aviation technologies.

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