Page 36 - Fuels & Lubes International 2013 - Q1

1,500 flights a year, but in 1,500 flights a day.
to aid in this journey, boeing has invested
in collaborative research and road mapping
within the Sustainable Aviation Fuel users
group (SAFug), ranging from Seattle, portland
and Mexico, to China. Newsum added that
the end goal for boeing is not to “monopolize”
biofuels, but to catalyze the industry into using
biofuels in as many planes as possible.
unsurprisingly, one of the major problems
facing the adoption of more efficient fuels is
cost; it is extremely expensive to revamp the
existing infrastructure because doing so has
a domino effect wherein a simple change in
one part of the machine can require changes
in many other unforeseen areas. As such, it is
necessary for any potential alternative fuel to
be capable of operating within the industry’s
current infrastructure. These types of fuels are
called “drop-in” solutions because they can be
adopted without making any changes.
Adapting the infrastructure is the larg-
est barrier that those seeking to adopt biofuels
face, and Agrisoma biosciences, Inc. hopes to
overcome this by promoting its new feedstock
called resonance. Agrisoma, based in Ottawa,
Ontario, is one of Canada’s leading agricultural
biotechnology firms. It has developed proprie-
tary engineered trait Loci (etL) as an advanced
technology for crop improvement.
Agrisoma has partnered with Applied re-
search Associates and Chevron Lummus global,
the National research Council of Canada and
the u.S. Air Force research Laboratory to take
the necessary steps towards integrating reso-
nance crops into the aviation industry. Agri-
soma’s tagline is to focus on “farm, feedstock
and [flight].”
A consistent problem with biofuels has
been the scale of sustainability. In order for a
biofuel to be adopted by the industry, the air-
lines must be assured of reliable and consistent
supply; furthermore, the fuel must reach a point
where the price is low enough that airlines are
willing to use it in significant volumes.
Growing crops for biofuels in a
sustainable manner
Just as biofuels can help improve the
sustainability of the aviation industry, the fuel
itself must also be grown sustainably. Steve
Fabijanski, CeO of Agrisoma, believes that
resonance is in a unique position to achieve this
goal. The crop has been specifically engineered
for industrial application, and as such it will
not take away from land used for growing food
crops. Agrisoma has gone to great lengths to
work with farmers to smooth the transition to
growing this crop. resonance can produce a
“drop-in” fuel for the aviation industry, but it
is also a drop-in crop for farmers, requiring no
change in infrastructure. The crop demonstrates
“stellar performance under harsh environmental
conditions,” which is key to its adoption in the
northern plain states of Canada. grown primar-
ily in regina, Calgary, and winnipeg, Manitoba,
resonance is well removed from the traditional
food belt, and is grown in otherwise inhospi-
table farmland.
Fabijanski added that resonance is actu-
ally able to outperform many of the alterna-
tive crops, and it “is imminently scalable” to
the industry’s needs. The crop can be used to
produce both fuel and meal, the latter of which
can compete with soy as a source of energy and
thus underwrite the cost of the oil. eventually,
Agrisoma hopes to produce resonance with a
yield of 150-200 gallons per acre (1,403-1,870
liters per hectare).
Canada itself has taken on a leadership role
towards improving sustainability and has helped
Agrisoma measure its carbon output from the
production, transport and growth of its seeds,
to the eventual use in-flight. by using a “sniffer,”
Agrisoma can attain as much as six independent
analyses of a flight, covering landing, take off
and information at various altitudes. richard
branson has stepped up to demonstrate the
第二大举措是通过承运能力的提升，减少飞机对
燃料的消耗，以及更新空中控制系统来实现。最后，
波音认为虽有前两大举措的支持，但还需要探索一些
不同的东西。Newsum认为生物燃料是解决这一问
题的答案。波音视之为业内采取更可持续的实践的“
长期行动”的第一步。他们的目标不是每年有1500
个航班使用生物燃料，而是每天有1500个航班使用
生物燃料。
为此，波音已在由西雅图、波特兰和墨西
哥，到中国参与的可持续航空生物燃料油用户组
（SAFUG）的合作研究和制定规划中进行了大量的
投入。Newsum补充到，波音的最终目标不是“垄断”
生物燃料，而是推动行业在尽可能多的飞机上使用生
物燃料。
毫无疑问，在采用更高效的燃料时的主要问题
是成本；在改造现有的基础设施会由于多米诺效应而
变得非常昂贵，对机器中的一个部件的简单改动会影
响到一系列无法预见的问题。因此，必须要使任何潜
在的替代燃料都能在现有的基础设施上使用是一个
必要条件。这类燃料称为“插入式”解决方案，因为
不需任何改变即可采纳。
对于那些寻求生物燃料的人来说，所面临的最大
障碍是调整基础设施。Agrisoma Biosciences, Inc.
希望能通过推广其称为“Resonance”的新进料来
克服这个问题。Agrisoma总部位于多伦多的渥太
华，是加拿大领先的农业生物科技公司。它已开发出
专有的工程性状基因（ETL），这种提供作物改良的先
进技术。
Agrisoma已开始与应用研究协会（Applied
Research Associates），Chevron Lummus
Global，加拿大国家研究委员会（NationalResearch
Council of Canada）和美国空军研究实验室（U.S.
Air Force Research Laboratory）开展合作，以采取
必要的步骤 使 R e s o n a n c e 作物 进 入 航 空
业。Agrisoma的口号是聚焦“农场、进料和航班。”
生物燃料的一个常见问题就是可持续性的规模。
为了让行业接受生物燃料，航空公司必须要确保可
靠、一致的供应；此外，燃料价格必须低到航空公司
愿意大量使用的水平。
以可持续的方式种植用于生物燃料的作物
正如生物燃料可以帮助改进航空业的可持续
性，燃料的生长本身也需具有可持续性。Agrisoma
的CEO Steve Fabijanski认为，Resonance具
有独特的地位可以实现这一目标。这种作物经特
殊的工程改造以用于工业应用，而且也不会占
用用于生产粮食的土地。Agrisoma已与农民进
行了长期的合作，实现了这种作物种植的平稳转
型。Resonance可以为航空业生产一种“插入式”
的燃料，对于农民来说也是一种“插入式”的作物，
不需要改造任何基础设施。这种作物表现出了“在
严苛环境下的良好表现”，这对在加拿大北部平原省
份的接受度而言是至关重要的。Resonance主要在
Regina，Calgary，Winnipeg和 Manitoba种植，避
开了传统的粮食作物区，同时也在其他不可用于粮食
种植的农场种植。
Fabijanski还补充道，Resonance的表现优于
其他替代性作物，它可以“很快扩大规模”以满足行
业的需求。该作物可以用于生产燃料和残渣，后者用
“Canada itself has taken on a
leadership role towards improving
sustainability and has helped
Agrisomameasure its carbon
output from the production,
transport and growth of its seeds,
to the eventual use in-flight. ”
FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL Quarter One 2013 36