Aviation fuel accounts for 35% to 40% of the total cost structure of the aviation industry. With oil prices remaining high and an international consensus on gradually raising the standards for carbon emission reduction, aviation operators have begun to study the feasibility of replacing traditional petrochemical fuels with biofuels. Since aviation operators first tried using biofuels to power aircraft five years ago, at least six aviation operators have recently adopted commercial aircraft that burn biofuels for passenger flights.
Biofuels refer to fuels derived from living organic organisms or their metabolic products. These include organic fuels derived from the fermentation of biomass such as corn, sugarcane, tung oil, and soybeans. Unlike traditional fossil fuels, biofuels, from production to combustion, use carbon that is currently circulating in the environment, rather than the "carbon from the past" released by burning fossil fuels. Therefore, biofuels do not increase the total amount of carbon in the atmosphere and can be considered carbon-neutral fuels.
Since the aviation industry accounts for about 2% to 3% of global carbon emissions per year, reducing the total carbon emissions of the aviation industry is a very important part of the global emissions reduction plan.
According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) targets, the global aviation industry must achieve "carbon neutral growth" by 2020, meaning that it can maintain zero growth in carbon emissions while expanding its overall business scale. Furthermore, it must reduce the total carbon emissions of the global aviation industry to half of the 2005 level by 2050. Therefore, the carbon neutrality of biofuels has become a new hope for reducing carbon emissions in the aviation industry.
The aviation industry first used biofuel to propel aircraft five years ago. At that time, biofuel technology was far inferior to fossil fuels in terms of propulsion efficiency and economic benefits. However, in just five years, at least six airlines, including major airlines such as KLM, Lufthansa, and Finnair, have achieved passenger flights powered by biofuel.
Although current aviation safety regulations stipulate that biofuels can only make up a maximum of 50% of the fuel used in aircraft, meaning that half of the fuel in the tank is still traditional fossil fuels, Luftahansa's test report shows that the performance of the blend of biofuels and fossil fuels is fully in line with expectations and does not significantly affect the aircraft's power output.
Although biofuels are currently limited by the total output of relevant manufacturers and the maturity of the fuel refining supply chain, their price is still 3 to 5 times that of traditional aviation jet fuel. Therefore, they are not yet competitive with fossil fuels in commercial applications. However, since the price of fossil fuels seems to be rising globally, aircraft manufacturing giants such as Airbus and Boeing have emphasized that biofuels are an issue that must be continuously addressed in future aviation propulsion technology.
