Air Transport Association of America president and CEO Nicholas E. Calio said the committee’s approval will help the aviation industry meet its environmental goals while enhancing the security and competitiveness of the energy supply.
The new fuel specification has been developed by the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative (CAAFI), which was co-founded by ATA in 2006.
The ASTM committee voted to approve the addition of a new bio-derived jet fuel annex to the alternative jet fuel specification D7566.
The annex will outline fuel properties and criteria necessary to control the manufacture and quality of the jet fuel, which will enable use of the new HEFA fuels from biomass feedstocks such as camelina, jatropha or algae, in combination with conventional jet fuel up to a 50% blend.
Led by CAAFI, the Federal Aviation Administration and others, the aviation fuel community is also planning to develop and approve processes that convert sugars and lignocellulosic feedstocks to jet fuel.
ASTM approved the Fischer-Tropsch processing as the first pathway to be covered by its alternative jet fuel specification in 2009.
ATA is the industry trade body for the U.S. airlines.
