Flying the Atlantic in a single-engined plane on biofuel. It may sound like a mission impossible, yet Air Center Europe (ACE) will prove it isn’t.

In cooperation with VentureLab Twente, Ingrepro – a biotech company, and Dutch institutes for higher education, ACE is working on the development of biofuel for aviation. “This is an example of sustainable entrepreneurship. It is ACE’s mission to develop renewable energy for aviation” says ACE-director Ben Cappelle.

Early in the morning of March 15, ACE’s Antonov 2, todays’ largest operational double decker plane, took off for a short flight from Teuge to Eelde (Groningen). Passengers were VentureLab’s programme-manager Rob van Lambalgen and Ingrepro-director Carel Callenbach, who the night before had been the proud winner of the award for best European project in a contest of the province of Gelderland (NL). VentureLab’s predecessor, the “Kansrijk Eigen Baas” programme, was nominated too and came shared second/third.

In the beginning of August, the Antonov will have its first trans-Atlantic flight on biofuel, from California (USA) to the Netherlands. The algal kerosene will be tested at Twente airport. The European Space Agency will have satellite observation of the flight. A webcam on board will enable live flight participation via the Internet.

Source: Groninger Internet Courant