Bio-jetfuel studies in Malaysia to create jobs within months

Malaysia is to begin studying the sustainability of producing environmentally friendly fuel locally through a partnership between the Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

UPM and AMIC are to work together to define local sustainable solutions to producing bio-jetfuel in Southeast Asia to reduce the environmental footprint produced by the aviation industry, in line with the goals announced by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2009 for the airline industry to achieve carbon-neutral growth by 2020. Prior to this collaboration, the two organisations engaged in several projects on bio-sourcing of materials in an effort to reduce the use of hazardous material and improve the overall recyclability of planes.

“An understanding on the implications of sustainability will mobilise a large amount of knowledge available in UPM, converging fields as diverse as agriculture, political-science, geography and economics. This is an exciting endeavour as AMIC and UPM are gathering (a) pool of knowledge under one roof and creating numerous opportunities for students to apply for PhDs in the field as soon as September this year,” said AMIC’s Chief Executive Officer, Shamsul Kamar Abu Samah.