United Airlines buys 10 million gallons of biofuel

Friday, May 24, 2019

United Airlines has rehabilitated its contract with its experimental fuel supplier and committed to ordering 10 million gallons of biofuel over the next two years.

United Airlines still has five million gallons on hand from the last contract and will now be able to power over 12,500 flights. This fuel will also be used for all United Ailrline’s aircraft departing from Los Angeles Airport.

This bio-fuel will be the basis of United’s plan to reduce airline carbon emissions over 50% by 2050.

Biofuel is a bit of a misnomer, as it’s not entirely natural. The ‘biofuel’ that United uses is actually 70% regular jet fuel, with 30% supplementary biowaste products that can be burned as fuel.

These products are derived from agricultural wastes, non-edible oils, and garbage, processed to turn them into high octane fuel. This fuel is produced at refineries, such as the one in Paramount, California, owned by World Energy.

It is this company that United started working with back in 2011, and has now committed to a new deal worth 10 million gallons of biofuel. World Energy’s refinery is still only in early development, and when fully operational will be able to produce 300 million gallons of biofuel per year.

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