It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at business airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find feasible alternatives to conventional kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to different types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods.
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 pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred 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 serve as strategic experts for the project.
The most current airline to begin explore 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 hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really motivating development has actually been the relocation far from biofuels which complete head on with food customers thus preventing a price spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize costs as US diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and motorists will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a mixed blessing indeed if some individuals wound up starving simply to satisfy somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Agnes Colangelo edited this page 2025-01-14 17:31:57 +08:00