It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to find practical alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now appear to come 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 limited biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foods items.
Jatropha 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 mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic experts for the project.
The most recent airline company to start explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually performed 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 damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers thereby preventing a price spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing indeed if some individuals wound up starving simply to satisfy someone else's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
wallacebatten edited this page 2025-01-18 11:50:48 +00:00