Aviation biofuel effort ramps up

The key to a vibrant aviation biofuels market is a reliable and plentiful supply of nonpetroleum feedstocks.

There's a long way to go, but things are coming together for the aviation industry in its push to increase the amount of biofuel it uses. The U.S. agriculture industry is giving the aviation industry an assist in meeting the latter's self-imposed target of carbon-emissions neutrality by 2020.

According to Richard Altman, Executive Director of the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), the goal is to have 10 plants up and running, or close to it, by 2013. There are no production facilities producing aviation biofuel now, though some facilities are producing it in limited amounts for demonstration projects being carried out by airlines and other parties.