In October, a consortium that included Quebec, Canada-based Agrisoma Biosciences Inc. received a $15 million grant to further research into the use of Brassica carinata as a source of jet biofuel.
Seed funding
Carinata is a non-edible oilseed member of the mustard family that can be grown on the fallow ground in winter without interfering with food production. The October grant will be used to identify and deploy regionally adapted carinata as the basis of a biofuel and bioproduct supply chain that will produce biobased jet fuel for civil and military aviation, industrial chemicals and animal feed in Florida.
Based on a new “farm to flight” deal between Quebec-based Agrisoma Biosciences Inc., and Qantas Airlines, the partnership will work with Australian farmers to grow the Carinata seeds with the goal of producing an aviation biofuel supply in Australia.
A new first in flight
In a news release, Qantas International CEO, Alison Webster said the historic flight and the partnership mark the first step in developing an aviation biofuel supply in Australia.
“We are constantly looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions across our operations but when it comes to using renewable jet fuel, until now, there has not been a locally grown option at the scale we need to power our fleet,” Webster said.
“Our long-term goal with this partnership is to grow the crop at a target of 400,000 hectares which will ultimately produce more than 200 million liters of bio jet fuel for the airline, says Steven Fabijanski, Agrisoma’s Ph.D. president and CEO. Renewable jet fuel is chemically equivalent to and meets the same safety and performance standards as conventional jet fuel.
