BILLINGS
A Japanese commercial airliner is scheduled to take a test flight next month using jet fuel derived in part from camelina an emerging biofuels crop that has received strong backing from Montana officials. Camelina is a seed-oil crop that at least two Northern Plains companies are pursuing as a potential source of alternative fuels. Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Montana's U.S. senators, Max Baucus and Jon Tester, have promoted camelina as a way to lessen U. S. reliance on foreign oil. Camelina companies have been struggling to reach their goal of converting millions of acres of the region's farmland to production of the crop. Competition with high prices for wheat made attracting farmers difficult. Representatives of Bozeman-based Sustainable Oils say they hope the upcoming test flight will show farmers that a market for the crop will exist. Japan Airlines plans a one-hour flight out of Tokyo on Jan. 30, using a jet fuel blend made from Sustainable Oils camelina, said Scott Johnson, general manager of the company built on a partnership between Targeted Growth of Seattle and Green Earth Fuels of Houston. "We need to prove that it's a consistent And good source of renewable fuels for this type of market," Johnson said. He added that the number of acres devoted to the crop "could be scaled up quickly" to meet demand. Aircraft manufacturer Boeing also is participating in the test project. The head of Boeing's sustainable fuels program, Darrin Morgan, said the goal is to prove that non-petroleum fuels are a safe and less polluting option for commercial aircraft. "Until recently it was assumed the only thing we could ever use was petroleum," Morgan said. "Boeing set out to prove that wrong." He said research indicates that plant-based fuels can reduce an aircraft's emission of greenhouse gas by as much as 78 percent. Morgan said the airline industry uses about 70 billion gallons of jet fuel annually, or about 5 to 6 percent of global transportation fuel consumption. Camelina companies have said Montana farmland could produce enough of the crop to make more than 200 million gallons of biofuels each year. (AP)
