Durban - South African Airways is hoping to start powering some of its aircraft with a tobacco-based jet fuel and other crop-based biofuels within the next two years.
Elaborating on the airline’s previous announcement that it was collaborating with the Boeing aviation group and Dutch-based SkyNRG, SAA environmental affairs spokesman Ian Cruickshank said small-scale experiments were under way in Limpopo to grow Solaris, a hybrid form of tobacco.
The seeds would be crushed to develop a low-carbon emission jet fuel that could be used as a substitute for conventional kerosene-based jet fuels.
This follows growing pressure on the global aviation industry to reduce its unregulated greenhouse gas emissions, which account for up to 3.5 percent of the total human-induced carbon emissions.
Although SAA announced two months ago that it hoped to begin industrial-scale trials on commercial and community-owned land, Cruickshank gave no indication this week how much land would be required, nor which provinces could be involved.
Experiments
He said large-scale trials would depend on the results of smaller-scale experiments that have been done mainly in Marble Hall in Mpumalanga.
Although SAA is hoping to source up to 500 million litres of biofuel a year before 2023, Cruikshank said the Solaris tobacco option alone was unlikely to yield sufficient volumes, so other bio-fuel options were being explored.
“SAA would like to utilise biofuels as early as possible but, practically, not before 2016.”
Though the airline says it is committed to developing “sustainable” sources of biofuel, the massive scale of its fuel requirements has sparked concern it could put further pressure on the country’s scarce water resources and arable land needed to grow food.
Asked whether SAA would conduct environmental impact assessments before embarking on large-scale production, Cruickshank said the airline planned to conduct a life cycle analysis that would include investigating the direct and indirect changes to land use as well as social issues and water requirements.
The Mercury