It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be explained as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics could start having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to traditional kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
Jatropha is a genus of around 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to perform research and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic experts for the job.
The most recent airline to begin experimenting with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging development has been the move far from biofuels which contend head on with food customers therefore avoiding a price spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some people ended up starving simply to satisfy somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Jan Chave edited this page 2025-01-17 19:23:05 +01:00