China makes first cross-ocean biofuel flight

On November 21, 2017, Hainan Airlines Boeing 787 powered by sustainable aviation biofuel took off from Beijing and landed in Chicago, making it the first cross-ocean biofuel flight in the history of Chinese aviation.

The fuel for the plane was produced by China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) and was made from used cooking oil. The flight was part of a cooperation project on green aviation between China and the United States, Xinhua informs.

President of Hainan Airlines Sun Jianfeng told Xinhua that Boeing 787 powered “by biofuel is as safe as ordinary aircraft with aviation fuel and after flying to a maximum altitude of 41,000 feet, we still found the engine runs well and aircraft performance is good and stable. ”

Hainan Airlines is the largest civilian-run air transport company and the fourth-largest airline in terms of fleet size in China. In 2015, the airline made the country’s first domestic biofuel-powered passenger flight. The regularly scheduled Hainan Airlines flight carried more than 100 passengers from Shanghai to Beijing in Boeing 737-800 and used biofuel made by Sinopec from waste cooking oil collected from restaurants in China. Both of the airplane’s CFM International CFM56-7B engines were powered by a fuel blend of approximately 50%  aviation biofuel mixed with conventional petroleum jet fuel.

According to the carrier, the use of biofuel can reduce carbon emissions while ensuring flight safety and efficiency.

In 2011, China’s first aviation biofuel test flight was conducted by Air China in a Boeing 747-400 using China-grown, jatropha-based biofuel.

Source – AeroTime

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