Biokerosene

Biokerosene is an aviation fuel made from hydrogenated vegetable oils such as rapeseed , palm or jatropha oil or from algae . The renewable biofuels will help reduce the conventional kerosene on petroleum to replace the consumption of oil and the emission of greenhouse gases to reduce to energy revolution in transport and climate change to accelerate. The prefix Bio- does not indicate an origin from organic agriculture , but to the vegetable ( biological ) origin.

Development and Initiatives

The environmental impact of aviation includes greenhouse gas emissions that are harmful to the climate. In 2005, air traffic caused 733 Mt CO ₂ . Aviation thus caused similar amounts of greenhouse gas emissions as South Korea or Canada. If one takes into account other climate effects, for example ozone formation, contrails or an impact on cirrus clouds, until 2005 air traffic was responsible for 2% - 14% of the radiative forcing that is causing the current climate change.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), the association of airlines , set itself the goal in 2007 of covering around ten percent of its fuel requirements with bio-kerosene within ten years. IATA represents over 230 airlines, whose flights account for more than 90% of the world's air traffic. In 2009 IATA expanded its goals. According to this, by 2050 CO ₂ emissions in aviation are to be reduced by 50% compared to 2005. In addition, from 2020 there will be an industry- wide upper limit for CO ₂ emissions in aviation. European aviation has also been included in EU emissions trading since 2012 , which provides incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Several airline operators and research companies are involved in researching and testing biokerosene. According to the German Aerospace Center , according to the state-of-the-art technology , biokerosene can be used at least as effectively as conventional kerosene in air traffic after evaluation of test flights .

A first test flight with biodiesel based on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) in civil aviation took place in January 2009 by Air New Zealand . From mid-2011, the airlines Lufthansa and KLM will be using a 50% bio-kerosene mixture on some commercial passenger flights. In September 2014 Lufthansa operated the first European scheduled flight with sugar-based bio-kerosene.

British Airways intends to produce 50,000 (metric) tons of kerosene annually from London waste from 2017 in the so-called "Green Sky Project". In the process of the US company Solena Fuels, waste is heated to 3500 degrees to produce synthesis gas and then kerosene.

meaning

Biofuels will play a subordinate role in international air traffic in the next few years, as they are currently twice as expensive as traditional fuel. Biofuels could not be competitive until the beginning of the 2020s at the earliest, when their production would then be cheaper and the kerosene used up to now significantly more expensive. Under these conditions, biofuels could account for ten percent of the fuel consumption of global air traffic by 2050 . This corresponds roughly to the amount of biofuels used in road traffic worldwide in 2010. This is the result of a study by the Imperial College London, the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ) and the German Biomass Research Center (DBFZ) commissioned by the International Energy Agency IEA.

Biokerosene can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as studies by the German Biomass Research Center have shown. If biokerosene based on eucalyptus wood were used, 76% of emissions could be saved compared to fossil kerosene, according to the result of the final report that has now been submitted. Biokerosene based on Jatropha can save between 28 and 33 percent.

criticism

Environmental organizations such as Rettet den Regenwald point out that biokerosene is neither necessarily climate-friendly nor socially acceptable if cleared rainforest areas are used for cultivation or the cultivation of food is suppressed. The industry research association AIREG, on the other hand, declares that it only wants to use fuels based on plant residues, waste or nuts from plants such as jatropha that also grow on poor soils , in order to avoid competition for land . The WWF and other international civil society organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council support the sustainable production of biofuels.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Climate impact of air traffic: Current scientific knowledge about the effects of air traffic. (PDF) Federal Environment Agency, April 2012, accessed on January 3, 2017 . 
2. ↑ The European Emissions Trading Scheme. Federal Environment Agency, November 15, 2016, accessed on January 3, 2017 (section air traffic in emissions trading. ). 
3. ^ Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energies in Germany .
4. ↑ Biokerosene proves its worth in flight operations , March 9, 2012 .
5. ↑ KLM uses biofuel. Increased use from September
6. ↑ Bild.de: Lufthansa is now flying with Öko-Plörre , July 12, 2011.
7. ↑ Lufthansa: Lufthansa is using biofuel in scheduled air traffic for the first time. Press release, July 15, 2011.
8. ↑ Lufthansa is operating the first European scheduled flight with biofuel based on sugar ( memento of the original from September 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Lufthansa, September 15, 2014.  
9. ^ Making jet fuel out of garbage, April 25, 2014
10. ↑ Youtube video .
11. ↑ Biofuels of no importance in aviation in the short term , press release, October 29, 2012
12. ↑ DBFZ: DBFZ determines the considerable CO ₂ saving potential of biokerosene. Press release, September 15, 2014
13. ↑ Press release from Rettet den Regenwald eV: Lufthansa on the err flight - agro fuel means environmental destruction and human rights violations
14. ↑ Reuters: Climate impact threatens biodiesel future in EU , July 8, 2011.
15. ↑ Sustainability Council: Bio-Kerosene: Greenwashing or Climate Protection? ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.