It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics might begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to different types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
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 cited Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to carry out research study and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical experts for the task.
The most recent airline company to start explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging advancement has been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers therefore avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much 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 blended blessing certainly if some people ended up starving simply to please another person's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
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