The Air Transport Association of America, Inc. (ATA), the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines commended the ASTM International Committee on Petroleum Products and Lubricants for approving a new jet fuel specification that will further enable the use of sustainable alternative fuels in aviation.<\/p>\n
According to ATA, airlines have gained technical approval to use fuel processed from algae and other organic waste and inedible plants for up to 50 per cent of their fuel needs. The preliminary decision by ASTM International is expected to open up the $140 billion a year aviation fuel industry to a host of new biotech and biofuel competitors and suppliers, including several algae start-ups in Australia.<\/p>\n
Harry Boyle, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in London, said \u201cThe biotech-biofuels business models of Amyris Inc. (AMRS), Codexis Inc. (CDXS), Gevo Inc. and Solazyme Inc. are all making claims to these types of new markets.\u201d Other biofuels companies that may benefit from opening up the $139 billion-a-year aviation fuel market are Neste Oil Oyj (NES1V) of Finland, Spain\u2019s Abengoa SA and Honeywell International Inc. (HON)\u2019s UOP unit, which is developing a fuel-making technology.<\/p>\n