GL: Bio fuels

[Ralph Yost]

For those that are interested in the future potential of alternative
fuels -
Note that diesel engines will be the early beneficiaries.
R.

THREE CARRIERS BACK BOEING IN ALGAE-BASED BIOFUELS

		 Three carriers have become the first aviation industry
representatives on a Boeing-backed organization
that's pursuing second-generation, algae-based alternative fuels for
commercial aircraft.
		 Air New Zealand, Continental and Virgin Atlantic are
joining the Algal Biomass Organization that Boeing
and various research organizations founded in May to identify and
accelerate development of the alternative
fuels. The first industrial partner is UOP LLC, a Honeywell subsidiary.
General Electric, Pratt & Whitney
and Rolls-Royce are all involved in alternative-fuel research.
		 "The use of algae and other second-generation feed
stocks is absolutely necessary to achieve long-term,
sustainable biofuels," says Jennifer Holmgren, director of UOP Renewable
Energy and Chemicals.
		 The carriers have teamed with the "big three" engine
makers in early tests of so-called first-generation
alternative fuels that are not necessarily algae-based. But the ABO sees
algae as the basis for second-generation
fuels. Spokesman John Williams notes that ABO isn't limited to aviation
and that early payoffs in transportation
may be applied to biodiesel engines.
		 "There is significant interest across multiple sectors
in the potential of algae as an energy source,
and nowhere is that more evident than in aviation," says Boeing's Billy
Glover, ABO co-chair and managing
director of the company's environmental strategy studies.