It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics might begin having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to traditional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to different types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods.
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 very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical specialists for the job.
The current airline to begin try out 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 declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating advancement has actually been the move away from which complete head on with food customers thereby avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in usage of biofuels in automobiles caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving simply to please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Isis Le Fanu edited this page 2025-01-12 07:51:12 +01:00