It's bad enough for some prop planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to come down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the very 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 usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various 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 foods.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 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 best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and bugs, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support to perform research study and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as tactical specialists for the job.
The most current airline to begin explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One truly motivating development has been the relocation far from biofuels which compete head on with food customers therefore avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving just to please someone else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Marshall Cassidy edited this page 2025-01-18 03:33:37 +00:00