A new technology center is to research the use of waste cooking oil as aviation biofuel in China has been jointly funded by Boeing and the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC).
The companies said that the project is a collaborative effort to support commercial aviation industry growth, and that the center’s first research project will explore opportunities to refine waste cooking oil, often described in China as ‘gutter oil’, into a sustainable aviation biofuel.
According to the partners the new center furthers the collaboration agreement made in March this year between COMAC, which is building the new C919 jet and ARJ21 regional jet, and Boeing, which has been providing commercial aircraft and services to China’s aviation industry for 40 years.
Funded by both companies, the Boeing-COMAC Technology Center is working with Chinese universities and research institutions to expand knowledge in areas such as sustainable aviation biofuels and air traffic management that improve commercial aviation’s efficiency and reduce carbon emissions.
Located in state owned COMAC’s new Beijing Aeronautical Science and Technology Research Institute (BASTRI), the center’s aims to identify contaminants in gutter oil and processes that may treat and clean it for use as jet fuel.
The partners said that waste cooking oil shows potential for the sustainable production of aviation biofuel, and an alternative to petroleum based fuel, because China annually consumes approximately 29 million tonnes of cooking oil, while its aviation system uses 20 million tonnes of jet fuel.
China is one of the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has forecast that passenger traffic in China will surpass 300 million this year and will reach 1.5 billion passengers by 2030.
Boeing said that it estimated that Chinese airlines will need to buy 5000 new airplanes by 2030 to meet the extraordinary demand.
