JAL successfully tests biofuel-powered engine

A Japan Airlines jumbo jet fitted with a biofuel-powered engine conducted a flight test Friday from Tokyo, the first of its kind in Asia.

Lean and green: A Japan Airlines technician checks a biofuel-loaded engine before a demonstration flight Friday at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. AP PHOTO

The Boeing 747-300 jet took off from Tokyo's Haneda airport and flew near Sendai before returning to Haneda, JAL officials said.

One of the jumbo jet's four Pratt & Whitney engines was run on a half-and-half mixture of biofuel and conventional jet fuel.

Boeing Co. developed the biofuel to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in flights. It derives mainly from camelina, a plant in the mustard family.

Camelina is inedible, making it less likely that its application to jet fuel will affect the world food market.

Camelina, a plant that can grow in inhospitable soil, is normally used to fuel lamps and as a material in cosmetics.

Virgin Atlantic Airways of Britain, Continental Airlines of the United States and three New Zealand airlines have successfully carried out flight tests using the Boeing biofuel.