Biofuel makes its debut in commercial flight

China's first commercial flight using biofuel traveled between Shanghai and Beijing on Saturday morning.

Hainan Airlines' Boeing 737-800 was powered by a "half-half" mixture of traditional jetfuel and biofuel, developed from waste cooking oil, known as "gutter oil" in China.

The flight was the first step toward commercializing biofuel in China, said Xu Hui, deputy director of the technology development department of Sinopec, supplier of the biofuel.

Liter for liter, biofuel can cut carbon emissions by 50 to 80 percent compared with petroleum.