Boeing and international academic and business partners are looking into ways of producing commercially viable aviation fuel from saltwater plants in a push toward reducing carbon emissions from air travel. The Boeing Co. said scientific studies were focused on salicornia bigelovii and saltwater mangroves -- plants known as halophytes. Research conducted in the United States, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates and other locations showed the plants thrive when irrigated with seawater and can be produced in large quantities to extract biofuel suitable for aircraft....Boeing says biofuel development is focused on plant sources that do not distort the global food chain, compete with freshwater resources or lead to unintended land use change.
The Boeing Co. said scientific studies were focused on salicornia bigelovii and saltwater mangroves -- plants known as halophytes.
Research conducted in the United States, Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates and other locations showed the plants thrive when irrigated with seawater and can be produced in large quantities to extract biofuel suitable for aircraft....Boeing says biofuel development is focused on plant sources that do not distort the global food chain, compete with freshwater resources or lead to unintended land use change.
Because Salicornia bigelovii can be grown using saltwater and its seeds contain high levels of unsaturated oil (30 percent, mostly linoleic acid) and protein (35 percent),[7][8] it can be used to produce animal feedstuff and biodiesel on coastland where conventional crops cannot be grown.... There are experimental fields of Salicornia in Ras al-Zawr (Saudi Arabia),[8] Eritrea (Northeast Africa) and Sonora (Northwest Mexico)[10] aimed at the production of biodiesel. The company responsible for the Sonora trials (Global Seawater) claims that between 225 and 250 gallons of BQ-9000 biodiesel can be produced per hectare (approximately 2.5 acres) of salicornia,[11] and is promoting a $35 million scheme to create a 12,000-acre (49 km2) salicornia farm in Bahia de Kino.[12]
