Aircraft manufacturers join forces to research biofuel

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Aircraft manufacturers COMAC (Commercial Aircraft Corp of China) and Boeing China have joined forces this week, in a new effort to research energy conservation.

The two companies are opening a collaboratively funded center for research into energy conservation and CO² reduction, which hopes to find a way of turning waste cooking oil into a sustainable biofuel.

Named the Boeing-COMAC Aviation Energy Conservation and Emissions Reductions Technology Center, the center has a dual goal, hoping ‘to expand knowledge into sustainable aviation biofuels and air traffic management to improve aviation efficiency’ and reduce CO² emissions.

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The center, which is situated in COMAC’s new Beijing Aeronautical Science and Technology Research Institute (BASTRI), will utilise researchers from Chinese universities and research centers.

China, which has one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets, consumes approximately 29 million tons of cooking oil per annum, whilst the aviation industry uses around 20 million tons of jet fuel each year. The center’s first research project hopes to identify contaminants in cooking oil and the processes to clean it for use as a jet fuel.

"We are excited about opportunities to partner with world-class research capabilities in China in ways that will accelerate the global push for renewable jet fuels and support commercial aviation's growth while reducing its environmental footprint," said Dong Yang Wu, vice president of Boeing Research & Technology - China.