It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics might start having a dig at business aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the travel market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical options to conventional kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
jatropha curcas is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha jatropha curcas as one of the very 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 aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and development into the usage of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic specialists for the project.
The current airline to begin explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging development has actually been the move away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers therefore preventing a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in usage of biofuels in cars triggered a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing indeed if some people wound up starving just to please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Wilhelmina Falcon edited this page 2025-01-18 11:45:43 +08:00