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British Airways initiates the green fuel revolution

British Airways and the Solana Group have joined a new venture to establish the first European plant to produce alternative jet fuel from organic waste * British Airways intends to fuel part of its aircraft fleet with non-fossil fuel starting in 2014

A British Airways plane. will fly in the future with fuel from waste
A British Airways plane. will fly in the future with fuel from waste
British Airways and the Solana Group have joined a new venture to establish the first European plant for the production of alternative jet fuel from organic waste.

British Airways intends to refuel part of its aircraft fleet with non-fossil fuel starting in 2014. The new fuel will be processed from organic waste and produced in a state-of-the-art plant capable of converting a variety of waste materials intended for landfill into jet fuel.

The independent plant, which will probably be located in East London, will convert 500,000 tons of waste per year into 16 million gallons of green jet fuel in a process that will actually allow greenhouse gases to be recycled and will also contribute to savings of up to 95 cents per gallon compared to jet fuel produced from fossils.

The amount of processed fuel will be double the amount required to make all British Airways flights departing from London City Airport carbon-free and the reduction in carbon emissions will be equivalent to taking 48,000 cars off the road a year.

The project will contribute to further large savings in greenhouse emissions by reducing the amount of waste sent for disposal in the ground, thus preventing the production of methane gas which is one of the strongest causes of global warming on the one hand and on the other hand 20 megawatts of electricity will be produced annually from renewable sources.

British Airways has signed a letter of intent to purchase all the fuel produced by the plant to be built by the Solana Group, a company specializing in advanced energy and biofuel ventures based in Washington DC.

The project will create 1,200 jobs in the East London area and may significantly reduce taxation on disposal of waste to the ground.

The CEO of British Airways, Willie Walsh said that the unique partnership with Solana will pave the way for the realization of British Airways' ambitious goal of reducing carbon emissions by 50% by 2050. "We believe that the project will lead to the production of sustainable alternative jet fuel. We are determined to reduce our impact on climate change and are proud to lead the aviation industry's environmentally friendly initiatives," Walsh concluded.

Dr. Robert Du, Chairman and CEO of the Solana Group, said: "The biofuel project shared by Solana and British Airways will effectively convert organic waste into new and recycled fuels and electricity and is completely carbon-free. The plant will be one of the most advanced in the world and is different from a standard site for converting organic waste into energy. The facility will not produce polluting emissions or unwanted by-products."

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5 תגובות

  1. All the profit is theirs. This indicates sound business thinking. When their entire aircraft fleet is based on green fuel they will save tens and hundreds of millions

  2. I wonder what new technology is involved in the conversion of organic matter (waste) into fuel? Something was said in the passage condemning methane gas, which is the accepted product of anaerobic digestion of organic matter, which can be burned and used to drive a generator. Is there a technological breakthrough in the treatment of organic matter? Moreover, it was said that there would be savings in the cost of a gallon of fuel against a gallon of mineral fuel.

    interesting. Very interesting even. I would like to encourage the science writers to think in the direction of energy, uses and new technologies. My father deals a lot with space missions, the doctor deals with graphene, Yael with exotic physics and Roy with popular science. I think that the knowledge responders (the talkbackists) are awake and very awake every time there is an entry into this field of renewable energy. It is a very hot topic and of interest to the public.

    Greetings friends,
    Ami Bachar

  3. Jacob, no one said that turning green is cheap, do you want to enjoy an abundance of electricity? you will pay
    Subsidizing the private producers may not be economical today, but in 20 years a significant percentage of the private electricity will be produced by the solar panels, this will reduce the burden on the electricity company
    Don't forget that soon there will be electric cars here, where will the electricity come from?

    I am full of hope that such a project will really be established in Israel, it should be with the encouragement of the government, otherwise it will not move

  4. We hope that such a project will soon be with us.
    It is better than subsidizing producers of electricity from solar panels. The utilization of the panels is low plus the amount of electricity generation is negligible. The subsidy will make the electricity bill more expensive by at least 5 percent as happened in Germany.

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