The flights used sustainable biojetfuel produced from research
and development company Sunchem’s nicotine-free tobacco plant Solaris, in
Marble Hall, Limpopo, which was refined by fuel refiner AltAir Fuels and
supplied by sustainable jetfuel manufacturer SkyNRG.
Project Solaris was launched in 2014, and was an effort from
SkyNRG, Sunchem SA, SAA and Boeing to develop sustainable biojetfuel from the
Solaris crop.
The SAA and Mango flights carried 300 passengers from
Johannesburg to Cape Town on Boeing 737-800’s powered by a fuel blend made up
of 30% aviation biofuel and 70% fossil fuel.
Speaking to Engineering News Online, Boeing director of
environmental strategy Darren Morgan said that seven years ago, fuel costs were
ten times what the price of fuel was today, and pointed out that in the US and other
countries, biofuel was selling at cost parity.
“What Boeing is trying to do is to increase the supply and
technology investment to drive the supply chain further for the development of
more types of biofuel,” he said.
He added that South Africa used to have a very large tobacco
industry and pointed out that that industry had largely collapsed.
“The idea behind this particular feedstock is to bring back
tobacco farming and the employment that comes with it,” he explained.
Morgan said South Africa had a long-standing policy of
supporting renewable fuel development and that Boeing, SAA and the South
African government had been working closely over the past three years, since
the inception of the collaboration, to help develop further technologies and supply
chains.
“This is the first step in a very long journey.”
Source: Engineering News
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