It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at industrial airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to find viable options to standard kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to various types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel 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 used various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods.
jatropha curcas is a genus of around 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 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 and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical consultants for the task.
The most recent airline company to begin try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually performed internal US flights using a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating advancement has actually been the move away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thus avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles caused a spike in maize rates as US too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing indeed if some people ended up starving just to please somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Simone Vitale edited this page 2025-01-11 12:47:08 +00:00