Jatropha plant’s oil studied as biofuel for jets

KUNIA, Hawaii – If all goes well this summer, an Air New Zealand 747 jumbo jet will take off from Auckland this fall with one of its four engines powered by fuel refined from the seed of a fast-growing weed.

The three-hour test flight could mark one of the more promising – and more unusual – steps by the financially strapped airline industry to find cheaper and more environmentally friendly alternatives to fossil fuel.

“We’re confident that the test will go well,” said David Morgan, the carrier’s general manager for airline operations, before leading visitors to a farm here where the weeds are being researched. If the flight is successful “it’ll be a real milestone not only for Air New Zealand but for aviation.”

The secret: oil from poisonous seeds of the jatropha tree, which grows in warm climates around the world. For the past year, a team of scientists here have been perfecting a process for turning the oil into jet fuel. On Wednesday, the airline announced plans to use these alternative biofuels for 10% of its needs by 2013.

The test flight is particularly noteworthy because it will come at a time when ethanol and other biofuels have come under increasing scrutiny because of their side effects. Production of ethanol has been blamed for corn shortages that have contributed to higher food prices. Others have been blamed for deforestation and contributing to global warming.

The test will also come as escalating fuel prices are prompting airlines to raise air fares and jam more people into fewer, more fuel-efficient planes. With jet fuel prices up 70% from a year ago, U.S. carriers could see losses of more than $7 billion this year, airline analysts estimate.

On Wednesday, United Airlines, the nation’s second largest carrier, said it plans to ground 100 older, fuel-guzzling planes and shed up to 1,600 jobs as a way to cope with escalating jet fuel costs.

“This is an extraordinary crisis with the potential to reshape the industry with impacts throughout the global economy,” said Giovanni Bisignani, chief executive of the International Air Transport Assn., as he opened an annual gathering of airline executives in Istanbul on Monday.

A partial solution may lie here on a hillside with a vista of Honolulu, where Air New Zealand and aircraft maker Boeing Co. have been working with Hawaiian agriculture experts to develop a strain of weed that could help the industry lessen its dependence on crude oil.

The weed – which resembles a fruit tree – can be grown virtually anywhere, doesn’t need much water or fertilizer and is not edible. The plant is widespread and can be found in almost every part of the world. In India, the plants are mainly used as hedges to keep cows out of farm fields. In the U.S. some researchers, including one in Santa Barbara, have been growing the trees to process biodiesel that can be used in automobiles and factory machines.

“It’s an ugly looking plant, to be honest with you,” said Lance Santo, an agronomist for Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, as he held a golf-ball-size nut that had fallen from a jatropha plant.

Within the nut were two seeds resembling peanuts. They contained 30% to 40% oil. Researchers looking at various crops discovered that the quality of jatropha oil was better than most for making jet fuel. “It produces one of the better oils for jet fuel. It’s quite good,” Santo said.

The jatropha-refined fuel is also significantly cheaper than crude oil. A study by a energy analyst with J.P. Morgan & Chase last fall estimated that jatropha fuel could cost about $43 a barrel, or about one-third of Tuesday’s closing price of $125 a barrel for crude oil. Jatropha fuel also produces about half the harmful carbon emissions of fossil fuel.

Air New Zealand said its jatropha oil for the test flight will come from fields in southeastern Africa and India. The oil will be refined into jet fuel at an unspecified “hydro plant” in the U.S. which the carrier declined to name, citing competitive reasons.

While little known in the U.S. mainland, jatropha is widely viewed as a potential wonder plant in many parts of the world where long-time fuel shortages have led to development of numerous alternative energy sources. Several refineries to turn the plant oil into biodiesel for automobile use are under construction in Africa.

But the latest effort by Air New Zealand, which is also getting help from Boeing and jet-engine maker Rolls-Royce PLC, is the first to process the oil for jet fuel and comes after nearly two years of research into a second generation of biofuels.

“Our efforts on biofuel development are part of a much broader Boeing environmental strategy, but with fuel prices being what they are and continuing to rise, this is clearly a key element and one that holds promise for the aviation sector,” said Boeing spokesman Terrance Scott.

But the airline will have to wait a few months for regulatory approvals and fuel certifications to begin the test flights, which, if all goes well, could come in the fourth quarter of this year, the airline said.

At the agricultural field office here, jatropha is also seen as holding promise for Hawaii’s agricultural industry, once the world’s largest sugar cane producer. With lower-cost foreign competition, Hawaii has only two cane growers now, down from a dozen when Santo began working for the state’s agriculture department in 1972.

Agriculure experts are not sure yet if jatropha can replace sugar cane as a new crop but researchers are also looking at other uses, including plant extracts that they recently discovered had properties similar to those of latex.

“It’ll be a while before we can say it’s a miracle plant,” Santo said. “But we’ve just scratched the surface.”

peter.pae@latimes.com

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