Sustainable biofuels to run commercial jets

Online, January 25, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The expected extra boost for biofuel demand will create an opportunity for alternative energy investors.

Qatar Airways and Qatar Petroleum announced a joint effort, supported by Airbus, to develop, produce and supply a sustainable bio jet fuel.

The partners, who last year completed a feasibility study of a sustainable Biomass-to-Liquid (BTL) jet fuel with US company Verno Systems say they can produce a biofuel without affecting food or fresh-water supplies.

"By entering into the production and supply of bio jet fuels, we will be able to get closer and closer to carbon neutral growth," said Qatar Airways CEP Akbar al Baker.

A second consortium of airlines have also announced similar plans, with Masdar, Boeing, Honeywell's UOP and Etihad Airways developing and producing biofuels.

This rapid development in the alternative energy world is a big leap forward for the development and market attraction of biofuels. Alternative fuels produced from plants such as wheat and corn and in high demand, as well as crops which do not place the same pressure on food production, such as the so-called 'wonder plant' Jatropha, a high-yielding resilient crop which grows where food crops cannot, and so is leading the alternative investment wave.

Joseph Upchurch, Managing Director of Aston Lloyd, a company which is running alternative investment projects, believes that land and biofuel investments are the best way to take advantage of the demand created by the aviation industry,

"Land used for growing crops is in short supply and increasing demand, based on this announcement by the aviation consortiums, making it clear that biofuels are the future. At Aston Lloyd we believe that by investing in agricultural land, especially in under-developed regions, there are strong returns to be made."

Aston Lloyd are currently running an agricultural land investment project in Ukraine, generating high returns by developing under-used land and pushing crop yields up. With further alternative energy investment projects to follow, the company believes the demand for biofuels can go some way to being supplied.

For further information click here for an instant download of the current project brochure: http://www.astonlloyd.co.uk/ukrainebrochure-sp/