It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics might start having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to find practical alternatives to traditional kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with limited 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 bad for growing mainstream foods items.
Jatropha is a genus of around 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates 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 aeronautical major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic experts for the job.
The latest airline company to begin exploring with new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really motivating development has been the move far from biofuels which compete head on with food customers thus preventing a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in cars and trucks triggered a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to please somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
earnesthollenb edited this page 2025-01-12 13:04:49 +08:00