The airframe manufacturer powered its ecoDemonstrator 787 flight test aircraft this month with a blend of 15% green diesel and 85% petroleum jet fuel in the port engine.
"Green diesel offers a tremendous opportunity to make sustainable aviation biofuel more available and more affordable for our customers," commented Julie Felgar, Managing Director of Environmental Strategy and Integration, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We will provide data from several ecoDemonstrator flights to support efforts to approve this fuel for commercial aviation and help meet our industry's environmental goals."
Sustainable green diesel is made from vegetable oils, waste cooking oil and waste animal fats. Boeing previously found that this fuel is chemically similar to HEFA (hydro-processed esters and fatty acids) aviation biofuel, which was approved in 2011. Green diesel is chemically distinct and differs from biodiesel, which also is used in ground transportation.
With production capacity of 800m gallons in the US, Europe and Asia, green diesel could quickly supply as much as 1% of global jet fuel demand. Moreover, with a wholesale cost of about US$3 per gallon, green diesel approaches parity in terms of cost with traditional jet fuel.
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Green flight a reality
Boeing has completed the world's first flight using so-called green diesel, a sustainable biofuel that is widely available and used in the ground transportation sector.
