- Written by International Civil Aviation Organization
ICAO
Some
encouraging results posted by a sustainable alternative biofuels
research project out of Qatar University have attracted praise from the
President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), Roberto Kobeh González.
Kobeh
was visiting the facility as part of his itinerary during the United
Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-18) in Doha, where he presented a
status update on ICAO’s progress on several climate change mitigation
fronts, including alternative fuels.
“We
really welcome this project as an example of the varying biofuel
solutions that can be applied in different areas around the globe,”
stressed Kobeh. “The Qatar project is notable in that it is State-backed
and employs resources natural to the surroundings. These do not depend
on arable land vital to food consumption.”
A
laboratory research team at Qatar University initially produced biofuel
from organisms abundant in the country’s highly saline waters. The
experiment was eventually scaled up to larger outdoor tanks and is
currently being upgraded to 25,000 specially-designed research ponds. If
successful, efforts will be further expanded to a pre-commercialization
pilot plant with a capacity of 1.5 million litres.
In
his remarks on the opening day of the Doha Climate Change Conference,
Kobeh emphasized that alternative fuels are an essential part of the
ICAO strategy as its Member States seek to meet their responsibilities
and realize a sustainable future for international civil aviation.
“Commercial
flights on sustainable alternative fuels are now a reality,” he noted.
“Airlines are using drop-in biofuels that do not require changes to
aircraft design or fuel delivery systems. Facilitating the availability
of such fuels at competitive prices and in sufficient quantities for use
in aviation is the next challenge, one for which an ICAO expert group
is currently developing global policies.”
In
addition to its efforts in the alternative and biofuels area, ICAO and
the aviation sector are continuing to pursue emissions mitigation
measures which include improved aircraft technology and Standards, more
efficient operations, a new C02 certification standard for aircraft,
State action plans and market-based measures.
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