Masdar Institute, Boeing, Etihad Airways, and UOP Honeywell announce Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project in UAE, focused on salicornia as aviation biofuel

In the United Arab Emirates, the other shoe has dropped on Boeing’s months-old identification of salicornia as one of the four most promising feedstocks for aviation biofuels.

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Boeing, Etihad Airways and UOP Honeywell announced the UAE’s first Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project (SBRP) using seawater and the desert for bio-energy in Abu Dhabi. The project will for the first time demonstrate the commercial viability of using integrated saltwater agriculture to provide biofuels for aviation.

The technology of evolutionary seawater farming has been pioneered by Dr. Carl Hodges of Global Seawater Inc. (GSI), who has been engaged as Special Advisor to the project. The project in Abu Dhabi will take place over an area of around 2 km². Dr. Hodges was recently seen in biofuels circles at the time of the Continental Airlines test flights in Houston.

The project also emphasizes the aviation industry’s emphasis on sustainable, locally appropriate feedstocks. With the increasing traffic in the Middle East, the focus on the oil-rich, salt-tolerant salicornia had been discussed for some time, but the Masdar project is the first major advance in salicornia development since the establishment of Hodges’ Seawater Foundation project, which has been cultivating salicornia for years in Mexico, but hitherto had been unable to secure the backing of major commercial end-users and fuel developers.

As an independent research university working in renewable energy development, the Masdar Institute (www.masdar.ac.ae) will lead SBRP operations bringing strong scientific guidance to the project. The Masdar Institute will host the SBRP and provide laboratory and demonstration facilities both within and outside of Masdar City, which aims to be the world’s first zero-carbon city.

According to the Provost of the Masdar Institute, Dr. John Perkins, “This project demonstrates the Masdar Institute’s strong desire to establish a world-class university dedicated to alternative energy, environmental technologies and sustainability. This project will for the first time demonstrate the commercial viability of using integrated saltwater agriculture to provide biofuels for aviation, and is consistent with the overall vision of Abu Dhabi to achieve a 7% target of renewables by 2020.”

The SBRP team will focus on an integrated seawater agriculture systems (ISAS) approach, which is a highly efficient system for producing liquid and solid biofuels, capturing and holding carbon from the atmosphere, enlarging habitats for increasing biodiversity, and simultaneously releasing fresh water for higher value uses (drinking water, industrial use and food products). ISAS also has the potential to reduce the impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities.

The integrated approach uses saltwater to create an aquaculture-based farming system in parallel with the growth of mangrove forests and Salicornia, a plant that thrives in salty water. These biomass sources can be sustainably harvested and used to generate clean energy, aviation biofuels and other products. This closed-loop system converts aquaculture effluent into an affordable, nutrient-rich fertilizer for both plant species. Developing low-cost, non-petroleum fertilizers is a key to achieving reductions in carbon emissions from any biofuel source.

The integrated team has not released a timeline for the project.

Masdar Institute, Boeing, Etihad Airways, and UOP Honeywell announce Sustainable Bioenergy Research Project in UAE, focused on salicornia as aviation biofuel is a post from: Biofuels Digest