To reduce commercial aviation’s environmental footprint and support rural development in South Africa, Boeing and South African Airways partnered to make sustainable aviation biofuel from a new type of tobacco plant. The companies collaborated with Dutch aviation biofuels company SkyNRG to expand the production of the hybrid plant known as Solaris and grow the tobacco plant as a biofuel feedstock in place of the traditional plant used by the tobacco industry. Test farming is currently underway and biofuel production using oil from the nicotine-free plant’s seeds is expected to begin in the next few years. Boeing expects the rest of the plant will be able to be used for the creation of sustainable aviation biofuels in the future.

“By using hybrid tobacco, we can leverage knowledge of tobacco growers in South Africa to grow a marketable biofuel crop without encouraging smoking,” said Ian Cruickshank, group environmental affairs specialist, South African Airways. “This is another way that SAA and Boeing are driving development of sustainable biofuel while enhancing our region’s economic opportunity.”

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Bruce Dickinson, Vice President And Chief Project Engineer, 747 Program, The Boeing Co.