India and Australia have signed a declaration pledging production, usage and demonstration of renewable aviation fuel in both the countries.
A roadmap will be identified for renewable fuel based aviation sector in India-Australia while the impact of bio jet on the environment will also be analysed.
The two nations will also collaborate for process commercialisation in India/Australia. These decisions were taken in an Indo-Australia workshop on “Bio-jet Fuel - A key to future green and sustainable aviation” at the Indian Institute of Petroleum.
There is intensive worldwide interest in reducing the carbon footprint of civil aviation. The carbon tax imposed by countries like Australia and European Union has led to civil airlines such as KlM, lufthansa, Finnair, Aero Mexico, Qantas, United Airlines etc to launch flights with engine powered by fuels containing biojet fuels. It is acknowledged that civil aviation sector is growing in developing countries like India.
One of CSIR-IIP’s recent breakthroughs is the development of a process for production of renewable aviation fuel from Jatropha curcas oil using non noble metal catalyst. Based on extensive pilot plant studies, the institute is now revamping a unit in a refinery, which will provide 40,000 tonnes per annum of bio ATF at competitive price for blending with fossil jet fuel for operating commercial flights.
Researchers, refiners, aviation engine manufacturers, airline authorities, Government officials and other statutory authorities both from India and Australia attended the workshop at IIP.