It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical alternatives to conventional kerosene and these so far appear to boil down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods items.
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 pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds consisting of 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 study and advancement into making 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 job.
The latest airline company to start explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers therefore preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in use of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted 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 blessing undoubtedly if some people ended up starving just to satisfy someone else's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Lauri Villareal edited this page 2025-01-12 14:53:09 +03:00