The aviation industry is scrambling to find ways of reducing its carbon emissions, including testing biofuels in commercial airliners. Tests so far show biofuels work as well in the air as on the ground. (In other words, they work.) But a host of issues stand in the way of large-scale production of such fuels for aviation, posing economic, environmental and logistical questions that have no easy solutions. For example, 85% of the cost of jet fuel made from natural oils is the feedstock, or raw materials, says Jennifer Holmgren, general manager for UOP LLC's Renewable Energy & Chemicals business, a Des Plaines, Ill., refining technology developer. But while a gallon of crude oil costs about 90 cents, suppliers of exotic oils say that the three main choices being considered for aviation fuel -- using oils from the jatropha and camelina plants, and from algae -- cost about $7 a gallon, $3 a gallon and more than $20 a gallon, respectively.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123620702529333561.html?mod=googlenews_wsj