It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might start having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover feasible options to traditional kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to carry out research and advancement into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic specialists for the job.
The current airline to start explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually performed internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thus preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in cars triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing certainly if some people ended up starving simply to please someone else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
elizabetsimcox edited this page 2025-01-12 11:28:36 +08:00