SEATTLE, WA — Alternative jet fuel made from wood waste will be tested by Alaska Airlines in a demonstration flight next year.

Approximately 1,000 gallons of the wood waste-based jet fuel, developed by Washington State University's Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) and its group of 22 partners, will be used in the demonstration flight.

"Alaska Airlines is thrilled to partner with NARA to help further promote sustainable aviation biofuels," said Joe Sprague, Alaska Airlines senior vice president of external relations. "Sustainable biofuels are a key to aviation's future and critical in helping the industry and Alaska Airlines reduce its carbon footprint and dependency on fossil fuels."

This is not the first time that Alaska Airlines has tested alternative jet fuels. In 2011 it flew multiple commercial passenger flights using a fuel derived from cooling oil.

NARA made the wood waste biofuel from forest residuals, the tree limbs and branches that remain after a forest harvest. Residual treetops and branches are often burned after timber harvest. By using these waste materials as the feedstock of a biojet fuel supply chain, NARA and its aviation industry partners, seek to reduce fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions as well as bolster sustainable economic-development potential in timber-based rural communities located throughout the Pacific Northwest, the group said.

A five-year project supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and it is comprised of 22 member organizations from industry, academia and government laboratories.