Lufthansa biojet fuel trial using jatropha oil from Jatenergy

Jatenergy announced that it had sold crude jatropha oil from its Indonesian plantation in Central Java to the German airline company, Lufthansa. The crude jatropha oil is being used in the world’s first long-term testing of renewable jet fuel. The 200 metric ton (mt) cargo was sold by Jatenergy from its joint venture with Waterland International of Indonesia for US$1,000/mt. The energy company, Neste Oil, refined the biojet fuel for Lufthansa. Last July, Lufthansa and Neste Oil began a six-month trial using a 50:50 mix of regular jet fuel and biosynthetic kerosene which runs one of the engines of a Lufthansa Airbus A321. The Airbus flies the Hamburg-Frankfurt-Hamburg route four times a day. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) approved the 50:50 biofuel blend last July 1, which has resulted in an increase in demand for biojet fuel. Jatenergy CEO Phil Hodgson said, “We can’t produce enough jatropha oil at the moment to meet demand. Apart from sales to airlines such as Lufthansa, there is also interest from power generators and traditional biodiesel producers at prices linked to vegetable oils such as palm oil.” The Jatenergy/Waterland plantation can produce as much as 1,000 mt/year of crude jatropha oil. The joint venture plans to expand it 2,000 hectare plantation to more than 100,000 hectares within the next five to six years. (September 8, 2011)