It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be referred to 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 aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to conventional kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to different types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, 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 regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods items.
jatropha curcas is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and bugs, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research study and development into the usage of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic consultants for the task.
The current airline to begin try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One truly encouraging development has been the move away from biofuels which on with food consumers consequently preventing a price spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in usage of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a blended blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving simply to please another person's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Roxanna Chanter edited this page 2025-01-10 22:42:40 +01:00