Boeing

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

Boeing and South African Airways are working to use biofuels made from a new tobacco plant.
Boeing
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.
Boeing has biofuel projects running on six continents to help move things along. This latest
project, announced Wednesday, began in October after South African Airways approached the
Seattle company to develop a sustainable biofuel supply chain. South Africa has pledged to
reduce its carbon emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and 42 percent by 2025, and South African
Airways wants to use homegrown biofuel by 2017.
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 Solaris tobacco plant is heavy on seeds, light on leaves. Boeing
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.
Getting the tobacco-based biofuel into South African Airways’ fleet of Boeing and Airbus planes
will take a few years as production ramps up. And it’s not as if come 2017, the airline will
suddenly stop using conventional jet fuel. The idea, as is the case with all biofuels, is to mix the
tobacco-based product with what’s already in the tank. “That’s the only feasible approach,”
Kowal says, because the shift must be made gradually.
Using the tobacco biofuel is good for the planet and the airlines’ public images, but the problem
is that it doesn’t yet help the industry with a much bigger problem: fuel costs. In 2012, the
world’s airlines spent $209 billion on fuel—33 percent of their operating costs—according to the
IATA. If they switched to biofuels now, that number would skyrocket: The stuff made from
plants and agricultural waste we’ve seen used so far are actually more expensive than traditional
jet fuel.
That could change if and when production ramps up, and Kowal argues the mere existence of the
stuff will help airlines save on money. “The way that you reduce cost is you expand supply.”
Producing gasoline, diesel and jetfuel from tobacco is the focus of an innovative research project
that is a collaborative effort of scientists from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, the
departments of Plant & Microbial Biology and Chemistry at Cal and the University of Kentucky.
Peggy Lemaux, Cooperative Extension Specialist, is on the research project with lead Principal
Investigator Christer Jansson, a biochemist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Anastasios Melis is UC Berkeley’s lead PI on this project, along with Kris Niyogi in PMB,
David Wemmer in the Department of Chemistry and Cheryl Kerfeld, an Adjunct Professor in
PMB and a researcher at the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute.
Other members of the group are Ling Yuan and Orlando Chambers at the University of
Kentucky. The goal of the group is to engineer tobacco plants with algal genes so that they use
energy from sunlight to produce various biofuels directly in their leaves, which could then be
harvested, crushed and the fuel extracted.
The project is fully detailed in the article below by Dan Krotz of the Lawrence Berkeley National
Lab.
Fill 'er up with Tobacco? Exploring New Path to Biofuels
Mention biofuels and most people think of corn ethanol. Some may think of advanced biofuels
from switchgrass or miscanthus. But tobacco? Not likely.
That could change. A team of scientists led by a researcher from the U.S. Department of
Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) is exploring a way to produce
gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from the iconic plant of the South.
Their goal is to engineer tobacco plants that use energy from sunlight to produce fuel molecules
directly in their leaves. The leaves would then be crushed, and the fuel extracted and separated.
The scientists estimate that about 1000 acres of tobacco could yield more than one million
gallons of fuel.
Why tobacco? It’s grown in large tracts throughout the U.S and in more than 100 countries. It
generates multiple harvests per year, its large leaves could store a lot of fuel, and it’s amenable to
genetic engineering.
But before you fill up with gas squeezed from tobacco, the scientists must first get through a long
checklist of pioneering research. Success could give the nation a new source of transportation
fuel.
If this sounds promising—albeit a bit of a long shot—that’s by design. The $4.9 million project
is funded by DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), which focuses on
“high risk, high payoff concepts—technologies promising genuine transformation in the ways we
generate, store and utilize energy.”
The project is led by Christer Jansson, a plant biochemist with Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences
Division. He discussed the project at the 3rd Annual ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit, which
was held February 27-29 near Washington, D.C.
Jansson was joined at the summit by other Berkeley Lab scientists who’re pursuing ARPA-E
projects, all potential game-changers. These include a way to quickly discover materials that
capture CO2 from power plant emissions, an innovative method to produce biofuel from
microbes, and the development of a low-cost flow battery for the grid that could boost the
adoption of renewables.
In the tobacco-to-fuels project, Jansson and his collaborators want to create a shortcut in the way
in which solar energy is converted to biofuel. Today, one approach to advanced biofuel
production requires deconstructing biomass and then using microbes to ferment the resulting
sugars into fuel. In contrast, the team hopes to create a plant that grabs CO2 from the air and
converts the carbon into a fuel that’s almost ready for the tank.
“We want to bypass downstream processes like fermentation and produce fuels directly in the
crop,” says Jansson. “After the biomass is crushed, we could extract the hydrocarbon molecules,
and crack them into shorter molecules, creating gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.”
To get there, the scientists will work to create tobacco plants that are optimized to take in CO2,
harvest sunlight, and produce hydrocarbon molecules.
For the latter, Jansson will start with cyanobacteria genes that encode for enzymes which
produce alkane, a type of hydrocarbon. He’ll then make synthetic versions of these genes that are
suited for expression in tobacco. In another approach, Tasios Melis, a UC Berkeley biologist,
will conduct a similar exercise with green algae genes that produce isoprenoids, another type of
hydrocarbon.
These genes will be introduced into tobacco plants grown by UC Berkeley scientist Peggy
Lemaux. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the leaves by UC Berkeley chemist David
Wemmer will enable the scientists to spot any carbon bottlenecks in the plant and refine their
metabolic engineering. In addition, Cheryl Kerfeld, a scientist at DOE’s Joint Genome Institute,
will search the genomes of hundreds of cyanobacteria species for other alkane-producing genes
that could also prove useful.eate a plant that grabs CO2 from the air and converts the carbon into
a fuel that’s almost ready for the tank.
“We want to bypass downstream processes like fermentation and produce fuels directly in the
crop,” says Jansson. “After the biomass is crushed, we could extract the hydrocarbon molecules,
and crack them into shorter molecules, creating gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel.”
To get there, the scientists will work to create tobacco plants that are optimized to take in CO2,
harvest sunlight, and produce hydrocarbon molecules.
For the latter, Jansson will start with cyanobacteria genes that encode for enzymes which
produce alkane, a type of hydrocarbon. He’ll then make synthetic versions of these genes that are
suited for expression in tobacco. In another approach, Tasios Melis, a UC Berkeley biologist,
will conduct a similar exercise with green algae genes that produce isoprenoids, another type of
hydrocarbon.
These genes will be introduced into tobacco plants grown by UC Berkeley scientist Peggy
Lemaux. Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the leaves by UC Berkeley chemist David
Wemmer will enable the scientists to spot any carbon bottlenecks in the plant and refine their
metabolic engineering. In addition, Cheryl Kerfeld, a scientist at DOE’s Joint Genome Institute,
will search the genomes of hundreds of cyanobacteria species for other alkane-producing genes
that could also prove useful.
The scientists also want to get as much carbon into the tobacco plant as possible to maximize
hydrocarbon production. Ordinary tobacco “fills up” with CO2 very quickly. To increase the
plant’s carbon uptake, the team will again turn to cyanobacteria, which are very efficient at
grabbing carbonate from the surrounding water and transporting it into the cell. Jansson hopes to
insert cyanobacteria genes that facilitate this carbon transport into the chloroplasts of tobacco
plants.
Melis and UC Berkeley scientist Kris Niyogi will also work to enhance tobacco’s use of light
during photosynthesis. Melis will use a technique he developed that enables the manipulation of
a plant’s light-harvesting mechanisms.
The team hopes to grow their first plant in about 18 months. Their ultimate goal is a plant in
which between 20 and 30 percent of its dry weight is hydrocarbon. Promising plants will be
grown in Kentucky in a pilot test overseen by the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development
Center, whose scientists will explore ways to optimize the plants’ growth and harvest conditions.

Don't Smoke That Fuel: ARPA-E funds
energy research in tobacco, turpentines,
camelina
admin | October 14, 2011

Transformative yields for terrestrial plant oils of up to 4,000 gallons per acre are the goal of new
research awards from ARPA-E.
In Washington, the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy
(ARPA-E), today announced 60 cutting-edge research projects aimed at dramatically improving
how the U.S. produces and uses energy. 10 awards for $36 million went for biofuels-related
projects.
ARPA-E is the DOE’s most far-reaching, ambitious R&D program. Modeled after the Defense
Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, which fostered stealth technology, the
internet and the GPS global positioning system (among other successes), ARPA-E aims at high-
risk, high-reward transformational technology platforms.
The projects announced this week are for the Plants Engineered to Replace Oil (PETRO). If
successful, PETRO will create biofuels from domestic sources such as tobacco and pine trees for
half their current cost, making them cost-competitive with fuels from oil.
Specifically, the project focuses on transformation of plant-based oil production, rather than
sugar for fermentation, or total biomass for pyrolysis or gasification.
Oilseeds–can’tmake‘emfastenough
The limits on oilseed productivity are well understood by anyone who ever sat through a
presentation on micro algae, because the potential to produce 3,000-5,000 gallons of oil per acre
is universally compared with productivities like 600-800 gallons per acre for palm, 400 gallons
per acre for jatropha, 80 gallons per acre for camelina, and 40-60 gallons per acre for soybeans.
Bottom line, it’s tough for the farmer to make a living growing oilseed crops for biofuels, though
its easier where it works as rotation crop, such as wheat-camelina or soy-corn, and especially for
the temperate plant oils.
Also, generally there’s a theme of researching the possibilities of the turpines, a class of
molecules perhaps best known for turpentine, but also the base of C5 (and a lot, lot higher, like
C21, or C30) molecules which confer many of the fragrances and favors in foods and perfumes,
pine pitch, most of the flavors of beer, not to mention synthetic rubber, steroids, diesel and jet
fuel. Terpenoids are the source of cinnamon’s scent, ginger’s bite, and even the dread THC, the
psychoactive agreement in marijuana.
Well, you shouldn’t smoke fuel, anyway.
Some of the projects have fairly algae-esque oil production goals. For example, a University of
Florida project that, it outlines, could increase oil production to as much as 4,000 gallons per
acre from pine trees.
And a lot easier to aggregate than micro algae, you can take that to the bank.
Thethreebottomlines
In this round, ARPA-E is keying in on a few areas that deserve a note.
1. Improving the efficiency with which plants use carbon. Oil plants are notoriously busy
using (or failing to use) carbon in ways other than we would like, do not use light as efficiently
as we would like, and devote energy to oil production less efficiently than we would like. The
nerve.
Amherst, UCLA, Texas Agrilife Research, the Donald Danforth Center and the Lawrence
Berkeley Lab have come up with projects to reengineer crops to enhance carbon uptake, and
optimize light utilization. With all the focus on camelina, no surprise that several projects will
work on that platform. But a project from Lawrence Berkeley focuses on North America’s
original cash crop, tobacco.
2. Getting plants that produce sugars, to directly produce oils. A continuing theme of
advanced biofuels research is to get the plant to do more of the processing work while still in the
ground, thereby dramatically reducing the cost of post-harvest processing.
In the alcohol-to-jet programs, for example, plants or other carbon sources have to be harvested
for their carbon, fermented or otherwise processed into alcohol, then upgraded into fuel oils like
kerosene.
In this round of research, Arcadia Biosciences will modify a number of genes involved in oil
biosynthesis to induce grasses to produce vegetable oil. A University of Illinois, Urbana-
Champaign team will engineer sugarcane and sorghum to produce and store oil instead of sugar.
Chromatin will lead a team to engineer sweet sorghum to produce up to 20% of its biomass as
farnesene, a diesel-esque molecule which will accumulate in the sorghum plants similar to the
way in which sugarcane accumulates sugar.
3. Maximizing oil storage in perennial plants and woody biomass.
In this round, a University of Florida project will increase the turpentine storage capacity of the
wood and to increase turpentine production from 3% to 20%.
And,theenvelopeplease–the10winners
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Development of a Dedicated, High-Value Biofuels Crop – $1,482,264
The University of Massachusetts, Amherst will develop an improved oilseed crop that uses
carbon more efficiently than traditional crops. The plant will incorporate features that
significantly improve photosynthesis and also allow the plant to produce useful, high-energy fuel
molecules directly within leaves and stems, in addition to seeds. This will allow a substantial
increase in production of fuel per acre of planted land.
University of California, Los Angeles
Energy Plant Design – $2,206,614
The University of California, Los Angeles, will re-engineer plants so that they use energy more
efficiently. The team will streamline the process by which green plants convert carbon dioxide
into sugar or biofuels. This technology could then be applied broadly, for example to crop plants,
to improve yields of grain and biomass.
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Center for Enhanced Camelina Oil (CECO) – $5,524,832
The team led by the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center will develop an enhanced variety of
the oilseed crop Camelina that produces more oil per acre. Camelina will be engineered with
several genes that allow the plant to use light more efficiently, increase its carbon uptake, and
divert more energy to the production of oil, which is stored in seeds and is convertible to fuels.
The goal of this project is to combine all of these genes into one engineered variety of Camelina,
and to prepare it for field trials.
Texas Agrilife Research
Synthetic Crop for Direct Biofuel Production through Re- routing the Photosynthesis
Intermediates and Engineering Terpenoid Pathways – $1,877,584
Texas A&M University will address a major inefficiency of photosynthesis, the process used by
green plants to capture light energy. Specifically, the team will redirect otherwise wasted energy
in plants into energy-dense fuel molecules. The fuel will be readily separated from the plant
biomass through
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Developing Tobacco as a Platform for Foliar Synthesis of High-Density Liquid Biofuels –
$4,839,877
The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its team will develop tobacco plants with
leaves that contain fuel molecules. The team will engineer tobacco with traits conferring
hydrocarbon biosynthesis, enhanced carbon uptake, and optimized light utilization. The tobacco
will be grown using advanced cultivation techniques to maximize biomass production.
Arcadia Biosciences Inc.
Vegetative Production of Oil from a C4 Crop – $947,026
Arcadia Biosciences will modify a number of genes involved in oil biosynthesis to induce
grasses to produce vegetable oil. Oil is one of the most energy dense forms of stored energy in
plants, and it is a liquid that can be extracted readily, separated, and converted into biodiesel fuel.
Arcadia’s technology will yield biomass comprised of 20% oil and can be transferred into highly
productive energy crops such as sorghum and switchgrass.
University of Illinois
Engineering Hydrocarbon Biosynthesis and Storage Together with Increased Photosynthetic
Efficiency into the Saccharinae – $3,250,000
The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign team will engineer sugarcane and sorghum to
produce and store oil, a biodiesel fuel, instead of sugar. The team will optimize the intensity of
the leaf color to more efficiently capture and use sunlight, improving energy yields by up to 50%
compared to conventional crops. The team will also crossbreed these crops with the energy grass
Miscanthus to increase their geographic range of cultivation.
North Carolina State University
Jet Fuel From Camelina Sativa: A Systems Approach – $3,734,939
North Carolina State University will engineer the oilseed crop Camelina with traits that increase
the yield per acre of biodiesel. The project incorporates both an alternative way to capture carbon
from air and features that allow the plant to accumulate larger quantities of vegetable oil and
other fuel molecules in oilseeds. When combined together, the fuel molecules plus vegetable oil
isolated from the plant can be converted into a fuel mixture that is comparable to diesel or jet
fuel. This variety of Camelina is expected to produce more fuel per acre of land than other
conventional biofuel crops.
Chromatin, Inc
Plant-Based Sesquiterpene Biofuels – $5,769,590
Chromatin will lead a team to engineer sweet sorghum, a plant that produces large quantities of
sugar and requires less water than most crops, so that it can accumulate the fuel molecule
farnesene. Genes from microbes and other plants will be incorporated into sorghum to allow the
plant to produce up to 20% of its biomass as farnesene, which can be readily converted into a
type of diesel fuel. Farnesene will accumulate in the sorghum plants similar to the way in which
sugarcane accumulates sugar.
University of Florida
Commercial Production of Terpene Biofuels in Pine – $6,367,276
The University of Florida project will increase the production of turpentine, a natural liquid
biofuel isolated from pine trees. The pine tree developed for this project is designed both to
increase the turpentine storage capacity of the wood and to increase turpentine production from
3% to 20%. The fuel produced from these trees would become a sustainable domestic biofuel
source able to produce 100 million gallons of fuel per year from less than 25,000 acres of
forestland

ATF, Alcohol Fuels, and the Crude Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act of 1980
The U.S. Department of the Treasury, 22 years ago, published
regulations establishing a new category of distilled spirits plants for
producers of alcohol exclusively for fuel. The Energy Tax Act of
1980 instructed the Department of Treasury to encourage and
promote alcohol fuel production.
A. Getting a licence from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) is not difficult,
and only takes about a month.
Click the blue link at the top of this page to see the 5 pages of forms and instructions for the "fuel
distillers' permit". Be sure to check th box showing that you will produce less than 10,000
gallons per year, or you will have to post a bond.