Johannesburg, Sep 27 (IANS) A petrochemical company in South Africa has launched a first-of-its-kind synthetic jet fuel and claims to have flown the world’s maiden commercial passenger flight powered solely by it.
The synthetic jet fuel is made by converting coal into liquid fuel, South African petrochemical giant Sasol said in a statement.
The company has been working for the past 15 years to produce the synthetic fuel, which was produced ‘on South African land, by the country’s scientists, using South Africa’s home-grown technology’, Xinhua reported Monday.
In 2008, Sasol became the first company to be given the go-ahead by aviation fuel specification authorities to use synthetic jet fuel on commercial aircraft.
The company chartered four flights for the fuel launch. A Boeing 737 flew from Johannesburg to Cape Town for two hours, while a Hawker 4000, a King 350 and a P-750 were also chartered.
‘The approval by international aviation fuel authorities of this product recognises the need to develop aviation fuel from feedstock other than crude oil, in order to meet the world’s growing needs,’ Sasol chief executive officer Pat Davies said.
‘This is a very clean burning fuel and much better in terms of carbon emissions, compared with conventional jet fuel,’ he said.
Sasol is located in the South African town of Secunda, east of Johannesburg. The company operates in 30 countries.
