Virgin Australia partners Gevo to supply biofuel at Brisbane Airport

Virgin Australia appointed (03-Oct-2017) Gevo to supply renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel (ATJ) which will be blended with traditional jet fuel and supplied into the fuel supply system at Brisbane Airport. The carrier will be responsible for coordinating the purchase, supply and blending of the biofuel, with the first ATJ shipment expected in Oct-2017. Virgin Australia Group CEO John Borghetti stated: "The project announced today is critical to testing the fuel supply chain infrastructure in Australia to ensure that Virgin Australia and Brisbane Airport are ready for the commercial supply of these exciting fuels". The project is supported by Queensland Government which seeks to leverage the abundance of carbohydrate-based feedstocks in its local agricultural sector, to support the development of renewable jet fuel production plants, a potential AUD1 billion (USD0.7 billion) sector by 2026. Gevo CEO Dr Patrick Gruber agreed: "We believe Queensland offers huge potential for low cost, biomass based feedstocks to produce biofuels" due to "the depth and diversity of its agriculture sector". [more - original PR] [more - original PR - II]