On 30th January 2009, Japan Airlines (JAL) is slated to be the first airline to carry out a demo flight using a biofuel refined from the energy crop camelina. The flight will test a blend of 50% biofuel and 50% traditional Jet-A jet (kerosene) fuel in one of the four Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines of a JAL-owned Boeing 747-300.

The biofuel component will be produced from a mixture of three second-generation biofuel feedstocks: camelina (84%), jatropha (less than 16%), and algae (less than 1%). The camelina will be provided by the US firm Sustainable Oils, Inc.

This will make the JAL biofuel demonstration flight the first one to be powered mainly by camelina, and the first using a combination of three sustainable biofuel feedstocks. It will also be the first biofuel demo by an Asian carrier, as well as the first one using Pratt & Whitney engines.

The 50:50 blend of SPK and Jet-A was lab tested by Boeing, UOP, and several independent laboratories to verify that the biofuel met the industry criteria for jet fuel performance. Ground-based jet engine performance testing by Pratt & Whitney of similar fuels further established that the biofuel blend either meets or exceeds the performance criteria that is in place for commercial aviation jet fuel today.

Camelina sativa, is from the oilseed family of plants, which also includes mustard and rapeseed, and is also known as gold-of-pleasure or false flax. It has a high oil content; its oils are low in saturated fat; it is drought-resistant and requires less fertilizer and herbicides. In light of fears about displacement of other food crops, it is reportedly an excellent rotation crop with wheat, and it can also grow in marginal land.

The demo flight will take off from Haneda Airport, Tokyo, and will be flown by JAL staff with no passengers onboard and is scheduled to last approximately 1 hour. The flight will be the final stage in a 12-month process to confirm the sustainable biofuel’s operational performance capabilities and potential commercial viability.

JAL Environmental Affairs Vice President Yasunori Abe said. “The highest levels of safety will be adhered to throughout the whole biofuel demonstration flight. Prior to takeoff, we will run the No. 3 engine (middle right) using the fuel blend to confirm everything operates normally. In the air, we will check the engine’s performance during normal and non-normal flight operations, which will include quick accelerations and decelerations, and engine shutdown and restart.”

Although camelina is native to Northern Europe and Central Asia, it also thrives in the plain areas of the United States. It is estimated that the state of Montana alone could support between 2 and 3 million acres of camelina, generating 200 to 300 million gallons of oil each year. Just to put things into perspective this equates to about 7 days of current jet fuel consumption for passenger jets in the US according to the Air Transport Association.