The Honeywell Green Jet Fuel was made from inedible corn oil and used cooking oil. Each flight will use a blend of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel with petroleum-based jet fuel. UOP supplied nearly 92,000 liters (24,000 gallons US) of Honeywell Green Jet Fuel for the flights. Compared with petroleum-based jet fuel, this renewable fuel will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 185 metric tons of CO₂ over the course of the event based on life cycle analysis.

Blended up to 50% with petroleum-based jet fuel, Honeywell Green Jet Fuel requires no changes to aircraft technology, meets all critical specifications for flight, and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65 to 85% compared with petroleum-based fuels.

Together, Brazil and the United States account for 70% of the world’s total consumption of biofuels, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and Brazil is the world’s second-largest biofuel producer.

The first fully commercial production of renewable jet fuel in the US is expected to start up this year and produce approximately 30 million gallons of Honeywell Green Diesel and Honeywell Green Jet Fuel per year. AltAir Fuels will produce low-carbon, renewable jet fuel and other renewable products using UOP’s Renewable Jet Fuel Process with the flexibility to adjust the product mix between diesel and jet fuel to meet market demands. United Airlines will purchase 15 million gallons of this fuel over a three-year period, with the option to purchase more. The AltAir facility will be the first refinery in the world designed to continuously produce both renewable jet and diesel fuels.

The UOP Renewable Jet Fuel Process technology was developed in 2007 under a contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to produce renewable military jet fuel for the US military. The process technology is fully compatible with existing hydroprocessing technology commonly used in today’s refineries to produce transportation fuels.