Jatropha seed oil touted for jets.

Photo provided by Mission New Energy Jatropha seeds yield as much as 40 percent oil that has been touted for use in diesel applications and refined into aviation-quality jet fuel.

A plant that some have scorned as a predator might well turn out to be part of the answer to rising fuel bills for consumers.

Jatropha curcas, a poisonous, semi-evergreen shrub that can grow as high as 20 feet, produces seeds laden with oil that backers say is an ideal biofuel. One company that maintains 194,000 acres of the plant under cultivation in India is looking to expand farming, and fuel production, in the United States. Leer más »

Agricultural giant Tyson Foods Inc. and fuel developer Syntroleum Corp. will announce Monday that they have successfully opened a plant that makes diesel from chicken fat and leftover food grease.

But they say their new venture won’t survive unless Congress gives them a hefty tax break, an argument that many other alternative energy projects are also making.

A raw-materials check at the Tyson-Syntroleum alternative-diesel plant.

Tyson and Syntroleum say they’ve begun in recent weeks to make diesel and jet fuel from chicken fat, beef tallow and a range of greases and oils at a plant they’ve built in Geismar, La., south of Baton Rouge. The raw materials are leftovers from Tyson’s meat-processing plants and other food-processing factories and restaurants. Leer más »

GENEVA — The head of the world’s biggest airline association, IATA, berated the oil industry and governments on Friday for investing “peanuts” in cleaner biofuels.

“Biofuels could break the tyranny of oil and lift millions from poverty along with providing a sustainable fuel source for aviation,” Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association said. Leer más »

Skies may be filled with algae.Bilal Bomani and salicornia in the Green Lab at NASA Glenn Research Center  In The Region: Scientists at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland may have tied the future of space exploration to sub-aquatic life. 

When it comes to energy, there’s always something new under the sun.  Except for solar power, which has always been under the sun.  NASA Glenn Researcher Bilal Bomani has been working on a process to use biofuel as an alternative energy source for commercial aviation. Leer más »

Accelergy, USAF to evaluate Camelina, liquid coal jet fuel mix
Accelergy has begun production of biojet fuel using a mix of Camelina oil and liquefied coal for evaluation by the US Air Force (USAF). Separately, Accelergy signed a Camelina oil supply agreement with an Ohio company.

US Navy to test F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet with biofuels
In 2009, Accelergy entered into a cooperative research and development agreement with USAF for testing fully synthetic fuels that meet or exceed USAF JP-8 military jet fuel standards. Leer más »

BA says the plant will reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill.

British Airways has struck a deal to build the first plant in Europe to produce jet fuel from waste matter.

Some 500,000 tonnes of waste will be used by the UK facility each year to produce 16 million gallons of fuel.

Construction of the plant in east London will start within two years. It is set to produce fuel from 2014, creating up to 1,200 jobs. Leer más »

A research project will make jet fuel without wasting fresh water or farmland.

A project in the Middle East aims to make jet fuel from saltwater-tolerant crops grown in the desert. Researchers at the Masdar Institute in the United Arab Emirates are starting a two-square-kilometer demonstration farm that will combine fish and shrimp farming with the cultivation of mangrove trees and salicornia, a plant with oil-rich seeds that can be converted into fuel. Leer más »

OCAÑA. – For the first time in the history of the aviation, an airplane has been able to maintain a extended flight with a pilot on board, exclusively impelled with hydrogen.Â

The flight took place on March 8th, but until today the aeronautical company Boeing has not disclosed the world event, that has taken place in the aerodrome of the toledanian town of Ocaña. Leer más »