Qantas powered by mustard with first biofuel flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne

MUSTARD seeds have propelled the first ever biofuel flight from the United States to Australia, raising hopes of a new boom industry for our farmers.

Agrisoma CEO Steve Fabijanski says there are significant benefits to mustard power.

MUSTARD power has propelled the first ever biofuel flight from the United States to Australia.

The 15-hour journey of QF96 from Los Angeles to Melbourne was powered by a mix of a newly developed oil refined from mustard seeds and traditional aviation fuel.

Not only does the Carinata mustard seed fuel significantly reduce a flight’s carbon emissions, there are hopes the concept will create a new “farm to flight” industry for Aussie farmers.

Qantas said the biofuel can potentially reduce carbon emissions by 80 per cent compared to jet fuel.

Qantas International CEO Alison Webster says the airline has set itself an important target.

Airline bosses emphasised there was no danger in using the non-traditional fuel.

“This is a completely normal flight departure for us,” Qantas International CEO Alison Webster said shortly before takeoff.

“What we are really excited about is that we will be producing less carbon emissions as this tracks its way from Los Angeles to Melbourne.

“Our number one priority at Qantas is safety and so the biofuel that operates on this flight goes through exactly the same certification and tests as standard aviation fuel. So it meets the engineering and the safety and the performance standards just like standard jet fuel.”

The flight was powered by a mix of a newly developed oil refined from mustard seeds and traditional aviation fuel.

The non-food industrial mustard seeds were developed by Canadian company Agrisoma. They will be grown by Australian farmers and refined in the United States.

“The target we have set for ourselves is a self sustaining biofuel industry by 2020 and today is the first step,” Ms Webster said.

Monday’s Dreamliner flight was powered by a combination of 10 per cent biofuel and standard aviation fuel. This shaved off seven per cent, or 18,000kg of carbon emissions.

Aviation accounts for about two per cent of the world’s man-made carbon emissions each year, according to the United Nations.

Agrisoma CEO Steve Fabijanski said there were significant benefits to mustard power and the aim of the partnership with Qantas was for Australian farmers to eventually grow 400,000 hectares, which would yield more than 200 million litres of jet fuel.

“It’s a tough crop, it grows where other crops don’t grow, it doesn’t use as much water as other crops and its well understood by farmers so they can pick it up and grow it,” he said.

The harvested seeds are crushed to recover oil, which is then converted into jet fuel in the same process that makes petroleum-derived fuel.

When the seeds are refined, Mr Fabijanski said the by-product can be used as animal feed.