Alaska Airlines powers flight with wood-based fuel

The Seattle-based airline became the first commercial carrier to power a flight with a mix of biofuel made from wood waste.

   Alaska Airlines became the first commercial carrier to power a flight with a mix of biofuel made from wood waste with its flight Monday from Seattle to the Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
   The wood waste was salvaged from private lands in Washington state, Oregon and Montana.
   The flight was the culmination of a five-year, $39.6 million research project supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), and led by Washington State University and the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA).
   “In 2011, USDA awarded our largest-ever competitive research grant to the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance, betting on the promise that cellulose-rich, discarded wood products could be a viable renewable fuel source instead of going to waste. Today, we are able to celebrate the results of that investment,” said U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who greeted the flight upon its arrival at Reagan National.
   “Over the course of the Obama administration, USDA has invested $332 million to accelerate cutting-edge research and development on renewable energy, making it possible for planes, ships and automobiles to run on fuel made from municipal waste, beef fat, agricultural byproducts and other low-value sources,” he added.
   The demonstration flight used a 20 percent blend of jet fuel made from cellulose derived from tree branches that were left on the ground after cutting operations.
   The forests are owned by Weyerhaeuser in Washington and Oregon, the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe in Washington, and the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes in Montana. “The biofuel used is chemically indistinguishable from regular commercial jet fuel,” USDA said.
   Alaska Airlines estimates that if it were able to replace 20 percent of its entire fuel supply at the Sea-Tac Airport with biofuel, it would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 142,000 metric tons of CO2. This is equivalent to taking approximately 30,000 passenger vehicles off the road for one year.