The technology is ready. Now, it is just a matter of growing enough non-food feedstock plants and refining enough of their oil.

Bill Glover — Managing Director of Environmental Strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

In May 2010, the United States and China launched a research venture to develop biofuels for use by Chinese airlines based on algae or oily nuts. An inaugural flight was carried out in autumn 2011 when a Boeing 747 of China Airlines circled above Beijing using biokerosene from homegrown Jatropha and refined by Honeywell/UOP. The announcement of a series of research part­nerships followed a pledge by the governments at a high-level meeting to cooperate closely in renewable energy, which both said was essential to fight climate change and could spur new industries. The two sides signed a series of research partnerships between Boeing, US government agencies, and Chinese research institutions and state companies, including Air China Ltd. and Petro — China Ltd.

China is on track to become the world’s largest aviation market in the coming decades, and Beijing is aggressively promoting alternative fuels to clean up its environment and curb its growing reliance on imported oil and gas. In 2007, China banned the use of rapeseed and corn for biofuel use, and the government now concentrates on the development of second-generation biofuels like waste, cellulosic ethanol, and inedible plants like Jatropha and Camelina. This is a big contrast with the United States, where around 30% of the corn crop is still con­verted into ethanol, driving up food prices.

China wants to produce a fuel that can be used by commercial airlines, ships, trucks, and in backup power with no modifications to standard engines. China has a 15% biofuel target for 2020, and is developing Jatropha plantations in Yunnan and Sichuan.

In my analysis, today China has over 200 000 hectares Jatropha plantations and the United States has the biokerosene technology. CNPC, one of the big three Chinese oil companies, has built a big biodiesel refinery on the island of Hainan. Now, the Chinese want to move up on the biofuel ladder, producing biokerosene at home. Boeing and Honeywell have a daughter company called UOP that has the technology to convert Jatropha crude oil into Jatropha biokerosene by adding hydrogen and extracting oxygen. This lowers the freezing point to around —57°C, so the biofuel stays liquid at 30 000 feet.

Development of renewable energy is a must for China to achieve its two basic policies in energy and the environment (i. e., to increase the use of non-fossil energy to 15% of primary energy consumption by 2020 and to reduce carbon intensity by 40-45% in 2020 from the 2005 levels). In the renewable energy sector, China will continue to focus on the development of hydro, wind, solar, and bio­mass energy. The Sino-US cooperation on green energy sets a good example for

other countries. Furthermore, in terms of the world’s energy market, cooperation between the two countries will help in developing new energies that can ensure global energy security.

According to Boeing, China is expected to become the US airplane manu­facturer’s research and development partner for environmentally friendly tech­nologies that will make the aviation industry greener. A key part ofthe partnership will be to develop biofuels that will allow the aviation industry to have a low-carbon lifecycle footprint.

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