Boeing and Embraer have set up a joint sustainable aviation biofuel research center in a collaborative effort to further establish the aviation biofuels industry in Brazil.
The companies will coordinate and co-fund research with Brazilian universities and other institutions at the Boeing-Embraer Joint Research Center in the Sao Jose dos Campos Technology Park. The research will focus on technologies that address gaps in creating a sustainable aviation biofuels industry in Brazil, such as feedstock production, techno-economic analysis, economic viability studies and processing technologies.
Boeing’s biofuel collaboration with Embraer is led by Boeing Research & Technology-Brazil, one of Boeing’s six international advanced research centers. BR&T-Brazil works with Brazil’s research-and-development community to grow Brazil’s capabilities and meet the country’s goals for economic and technology development while supporting the creation of innovative and affordable technologies for Boeing’s business units. In addition to its collaboration in Brazil, Boeing has active biofuel-development projects in the United States, Middle East, Africa, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia.
The Boeing-Embraer Joint Research Center is the latest in a series of collaborative efforts by Boeing, Embraer and Brazilian partners on sustainable aviation biofuel. Between 2012 and 2013, Boeing, Embraer, the Fundaçao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Sao Paulo and the State University of Campinas held a series of workshops in Brazil and, in 2014, published a detailed roadmap—called Flightpath to Aviation Biofuels in Brazil—that identified gaps in establishing this industry. These gaps will be addressed in part through the Boeing-Embraer Joint Research Center.
In 2014, both companies signed a collaboration agreement to jointly conduct and co-fund research and share intellectual property developed through the center.