webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2010
All rights reserved
From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Mon Jan 18 2010 - 17:14:00 EST
Successfully tested at small sites in Eritrea and Mexico, the project will
scale-up the original concept and hopes to convert it into a commercially
viable biofuels solutions for aviation.
Aviation biofuel to grow from saltwater farms
Monday, 18 January 2010Wilson da Silva
Cosmos Online
An artist's impression of Masdar City, the new sustainable research
community being created to focus research entirely on renewable energy
solutions.
Credit: Masdar
Related articles
Silent aircraft creates a buzz
Water for biofuels or food?
Biofuels over-hyped as a replacement for petroleum
Flying at night is worse for the greenhouse effect
Non-crop biofuels to boost food security
ABU DHABI: Can tomorrow’s aircraft be powered entirely from biofuels
grown from saltwater plants? That’s what a large new multinational
research project will seek to prove.
Led by the vast wealth of the United Arab Emirates, it brings together
aircraft maker Boeing, petrochemical giant Honeywell UOP together with the
country’s Etihad Airways and its new multi-billion dollar renewable
energy research powerhouse, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
“This project will for the first time demonstrate the commercial
viability of using integrated saltwater agriculture to provide biofuels for
aviation,” said John Perkins, the provost of the new institute,
announcing the initiative ahead of the World Future Energy Summit, being
held here.
Commercial viability
Known as the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project, the large-scale study
will prove the commercial viability of creating liquid and solid biofuels
based on the exploitation of halophytes: salt-tolerant plants such as
Salicornia which thrive on seawater and can utilise the wastes produced in
acquaculture.
In an integrated approach developed by Masdar and Boston’s Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, saltwater is pumped from the sea via canals,
feeding an aquaculture farming system in which fish and other seafood are
produced for food.
Rather than the resulting effluent being dumped at sea, it becomes a
nutrient-rich fertiliser for mangrove forests and the halophytes. These are
then harvested and the seeds pressed into oil, which can be processed into
aviation fuel. The remainder can be cycled back into the acquaculture and
into animal feed – creating a closed loop.
Arid land
The entire system can be built on arid land with little or no existing
biodiversity, and requires no fresh water, eliminating competition with
food production fresh water use.
Successfully tested at small sites in Eritrea and Mexico, the project will
scale-up the original concept and hopes to convert it into a commercially
viable biofuels solutions for aviation.
“The paradigm for energy supply is shifting,” said Jennifer Holmgren, a
vice-president of Honeywell UOP. “Energy demand is growing at 4% a year,
which means will double our global energy consumption in 20 years. All
future fuels will need to run on a replacement basis.”
The five-year pilot study will operate on 200 hectares outside Abu Dhabi,
and would need to be scaled up scores of times for commercial production.
Initially, it would be used as additional fuel blended with existing fuels,
reducing the carbon emissions of aircraft.
Eventually, the goal is to produce refining techniques and aircraft engines
that could accept 100% biofuel. “We’ll need learn from scaling up and
optimisation, as we learn more about the process,” said Billy Glover of
Boeing. “Cost will be high at first … [but] fall as optimisation kicks
in.”
“To meet the growing demand for energy worldwide we must identify
regional biofuel solutions that are not only sustainable, but can actually
regenerate the ecosystems where they are produced,” added Holmgren.
Greater climate impact
Compared to other modes of transport, aviation has a greater climate impact
per passenger kilometer. Studies have shown that high-altitude emissions
have trigger a series of chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that
have a net warming effect.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated
that the climate impact of aircraft is two to four times greater than the
effect of their carbon dioxide emissions alone.
The Emirates, with the world's sixth largest oil reserves and one of the
most developed economies in the Middle East, is staking its future on
renewable energies, spending heavily to create an international research
hub at Masdar and attracting some of the best minds in the field.