Boeing, PetroChina, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) and aviation industry representatives will work together to evaluate the possible benefits of a sustainable aviation biofuels industry in China to the environment and social economy.

The aforementioned parties signed a Cooperation Agreement and Memorandum of Understanding on May 27.

This collaboration will begin the evaluation work for developing sustainable aviation biofuels in May 2010. It is part of the sustainable aviation biofuels agreement signed by the NEA and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency and is aimed at promoting the development of a new biofuels industry in China.

The other participating parties from the United States include AECOM and Honeywell's UOP, LLC and UTC. The main party in China is PetroChina.

In addition, Boeing's R&D division and Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences also signed an agreement to expand their research cooperation, incorporate other research institutions into the sustainable aviation biofuels supply chain and to conduct joint research and develop algal aviation biofuels.

The two parties will establish a joint research lab to engage in the development of algal planting, harvest and processing technologies. The lab, based in Qingdao and under the joint management of Boeing's R&D center in China and QIBEBT, will focus on the commercialization of R&D technologies.

Air China, PetroChina, Boeing and UOP signed an agreement for the first demonstration flight using sustainable aviation biofuels that were produced from biomass planted and processed in China. PetroChina will supply biomass raw materials and UOP will process them into aviation biofuels.

The demonstration flight using biofuels will be conducted in China and it will show the feasibility of a complete supply chain from seeds to test flight. The time and venue for the demonstration flight and other details will be disclosed at a later time.