Argentina's YPF set to be leader in aviation biofuels industry

Argentina’s national Industrial Technology Institute (INTI) is working with state-run oil company YPF and other institutions to develop a drop-in biofuel for jet engines.
There are currently very few refineries across the globe capable of producing such a drop-in fuel for aviation, meaning a fuel able to be used interchangeably with conventional kerosene-based jet fuel without modifications to the turbines.
In the U.S., there are currently only pilot-scale facilities producing the fuel; Brazil and Mexico are also developing aviation biofuels. With this project, Argentina looks to position itself at the forefront of a nascent industry.
The air and space division of INTI has designed a lab to be installed near YPF’s technology facilities in Beriso, Buenos Aires. The lab would have miniature turbines to test the cutting-edge fuel before the fuel is further tested by Aerolíneas Argentinas.
INTI is in the initial phase of selecting the plant-based feedstock for the biofuel, Raúl Mingo, director of the air and space division of INTI, said.
Jet biofuel, a blend of petroleum and animal or plant oil to create synthesized paraffinic kerosene (SPK), is currently three to four times more expensive than conventional jet fuel (JP1). However, rising crude prices combined with a drop in biofuels taxes, new international norms, and the carbon credits market are expected to make it competitive enough to replace 50% of kerosene used in aviation by 2050, according to INTI.
(May 8, 2013)