South African Airways (SAA) and US aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Wednesday the latest development in their partnership (launched in October last year) to establish a sustainable aviation biofuel supply chain in Southern Africa. The two groups have established a collaboration with Dutch aviation biofuels company SkyNRG to produce aviation biofuel from hybrid tobacco plants.

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

“It’s an honour for Boeing to work with South African Airways on a pioneering project to make sustainable jet fuel from an energy-rich tobacco plant,” stated Boeing International MD: Africa J Miguel Santos. “South Africa is leading efforts to commercialise a valuable new source of biofuel that can further reduce aviation’s environmental footprint and advance the region’s economy.”

The collaboration will see SkyNRG increasing the production of the hybrid plant, named Solaris. Test farming of the plant is already taking place in South Africa and it is expected that biofuel production, using the seeds of the plant, will start within a few years.

“We strongly believe in the potential of successfully rolling out Solaris in the Southern African region to power sustainable fuels that are also affordable,” affirmed SkyNRG chief technology officer Maarten van Dijk. The Solaris plant is effectively free of nicotine and could provide farmers with an energy crop to replace conventional tobacco.

It is expected that both large and small farmers will use Solaris to produce biofuel – specifically, jet fuel. As technology develops, it is also expected that it will be possible to produce biofuels from the rest of the plant as well as the seeds.

As part of their sustainable biofuels development partnership, SAA and Boeing are seeking to assist small farmers to be able to grow biofuel feedstocks that benefit their communities socially and economically, while not adversely affecting food supplies, fresh water or land use. To this end, they are cooperating with the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials.