

The gambit was to show that the fast-growing air transport sector is eager for clean fuels, but the ability for green fuels to compete with petroleum-based kerosene that spews tons of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere remains way off.

The sugar fuel was developed by Amyris, a U.S. company owned by the French oil major Total, and could be on the market starting next year. Other key partners in the demonstration were Air France and Safran, which built the engine used in the test.




The flight, which lasts about an hour when commercial planes make it, used 10% farnesane, consuming about four tons of sugar cane.

But developers said use of sugar for fuel would not affect food markets, a usual complaint against biofuel technology. "Sugar cane is not considered a food product by the (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization, it does not compete therefore with food sources," said Philippe Marchand, head of Total's biofuel unit.