Boeing’s Figuring Out How to Make Jet Fuel From Tobacco

You can’t use tobacco while flying, but your plane can. Boeing is working with South African Airways to power the carrier’s planes with biofuel derived from a new breed of tobacco plant.

Biofuels work just like fossil fuels, but they are made from renewable sources like algae, wood, agricultural waste, and camelina and jatropha plants. Finding alternatives to dino-juice is a key goal for the airline industry, because fuel is an airline’s single biggest expense—it accounts for one-third of all operating expenses.

Beyond the financial savings, the International Air Transport Association estimates biofuels can cut the industry’s overall carbon footprint by 80 percent. No wonder dozens of airlines already have tested them in flight.

The plane maker and the airline settled on using tobacco instead of more established biofuel sources like algae for a few reasons. For a biofuel to make sense, Boeing spokesperson Jessica Kowal says, the source should be locally grown (to minimize transportation costs and the carbon footprint involved in it), fit into existing supply chains, and not raise problems with land and water use–which often prompts a “fuel or food” debate. Tobacco already is grown in South Africa. As the country strives to reduce smoking, using those crops for fuels minimizes the impact of such a campaign on farmers.

The tobacco strain, called Solaris, being used for the fuel is produced by SkyNRG, a sustainable fuel company. It is heavy on seeds, which contain the plant oil that’s made into the fuel, and light on leaves. Also, it contains virtually no nicotine.