India may soon produce world’s first low-carbon aviation fuel

A partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Lanza Tech could result in the production of the world’s first low-carbon aviation fuel which has only half of the carbon footprint of the current standard fossil fuel alternative. Virgin Atlantic announced that India could soon be producing this low-carbon aviation fuel because the company and its partner, Lanza Tech, had achieved a breakthrough in aviation fuel technology. Using Swedish Biofuels technology, the new process will recycle waste gases that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. This revolutionary process will capture waste gases from industrial steel production, and then ferment and chemically convert the waste gases into jet fuel. India is among the biggest steel producers in the world and it will be one of the first countries where Lanza Tech and its partners will build facilities for this innovative fuel production process. Virgin Atlantic said that within three years, its routes from Delhi to London Heathrow could have flights running on the new fuel. The new technology is being piloted in New Zealand, where Lanza Tech is based, and after its successful implementation, another one could follow in the U.K. and other parts of the world. This year, a demonstration plant will be commissioned in China and six months later, another facility will be built in India. (October 12, 2011)