Latin America is continuing to lead the charge on attempting to scale up aviation biofuels to commercially-viable levels.
A new project in Brazil aims to develop large-scale production of biofuel derived from the jatropha crop, which will be grown in the country's central-west region.
The project was unveiled by California-based SG Biofuels, which has joined a consortium that also includes Airbus, Brazilian airline TAM and aviation fuel supplier Air BP.
This is the latest in a raft of developments on the biofuels front in Latin America, which is emerging as a key player in the alternative fuels market.
Earlier this year, Embraer teamed up with Boeing to fund a sustainability study into fuel derived from Brazilian sugar cane.
And Mexican carrier Interjet in July operated a domestic commercial flight partially fuelled by biofuel derived from jatropha grown in the Chiapas region of Mexico.
Mexico announced a couple of years ago that it aimed to invest $500 million in public-private funds to reach its goal of producing enough biofuel by 2015 to meet about 1% of the country's fuel demand.
Both Brazil and Mexico are located in a region known as the Jatropha Belt, meaning conditions are ripe for cultivating the jatropha curcas.
Jatropha is often described as an ideal feedstock because it is non-edible and can be grown on marginal land. This suggests that it does not interfere with food production, a prime concern of those sceptical about using land resources to grow biofuel crops.
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