It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics might start having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical options to conventional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal 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 curcas which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic consultants for the job.
The most recent airline company to begin explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted 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 damaging emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging development has been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers thereby preventing a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in maize prices 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 curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving simply to satisfy another person's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Cathryn Valentine edited this page 6 months ago