It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at commercial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from rising oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to find viable alternatives to conventional kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to carry out research and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic consultants for the job.
The current airline to begin try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights using a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One truly motivating development has been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food customers consequently preventing a price spiral. Not so long back, a surge in usage of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing certainly if some individuals ended up just to please somebody else's green qualifications.
1
Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Darryl Bosanquet edited this page 2025-01-12 04:58:43 +08:00