It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could start 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 prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly 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 considered too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
jatropha curcas 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 pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic specialists for the project.
The most current airline company to start exploring with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed 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 hazardous emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating advancement has been the relocation away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers thus preventing a price spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in usage of biofuels in automobiles caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing certainly if some people wound up starving simply to please another person's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Tommie Joe edited this page 2025-01-13 12:07:57 +00:00