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The flight, which took off at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, is the first green jet fuel demonstration flight in Europe and the first test flight to carry a select group of observers. UOP's process technology was also used to produce jet fuel used in previous test flights conducted in the U.S., Japan and New Zealand. Test results from earlier demonstration flights showed that green jet fuel produced using UOP's process technology performs as well, if not better, than jet fuel made from petroleum.

"Biofuels provide an important option to meeting the rapid growth in energy demand, while effectively balancing social and environmental needs," said Jennifer Holmgren, vice president and general manager of UOP's Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit. "KLM shares a vision with UOP and others that green jet fuel can help meet the airline industry's goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

UOP's green jet fuel process technology was originally developed in 2007 under a contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to produce renewable military jet fuel for the U.S. military. The process is based on hydroprocessing technology commonly used in today's refineries to produce transportation fuels. In this process, hydrogen is added to remove oxygen from natural oils produced from sustainable feedstocks including camelina, jatropha and algae.

The UOP process produces a green jet fuel that is blended seamlessly with petroleum-based fuel. When used up to a 50 percent blend with petroleum-derived jet fuel, the green jet fuel is a drop-in replacement that requires no changes to the aircraft technology and meets all of the critical specifications for flight, including a freeze point at -47 degrees Celsius and a flash point at 38 degrees Celsius.

Camelina, the biofeedstock which was converted to make the green jet fuel, is an inedible plant that grows in conditions where other food crops cannot, is considered a sustainable, second-generation resource because its cultivation and harvesting do not tax valuable food, land or water resources.

UOP, a recognized global leader in process technology to convert petroleum feedstocks to fuels and chemicals, is developing a range of processes to produce green fuels from natural feedstocks. UOP launched its Renewable Energy & Chemicals business in late 2006. In 2007, UOP commercialized the UOP/Eni Ecofining™ process to produce green diesel fuel from biological feedstocks, and in 2008 UOP formed the joint venture Envergent Technologies LLC with Ensyn Corp. to offer pyrolysis technology for the production of renewable heat, power and transportation fuels.

UOP LLC, headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA, is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries.