It's bad enough for some prop planes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at business aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical options to traditional kerosene and these so far appear to boil down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too bad for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
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 cited 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 aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as tactical consultants for the job.
The most recent airline company to begin explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating advancement has been the relocation far from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in cars and trucks caused a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a blended blessing indeed if some individuals ended up starving just to please someone else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Inez Huie edited this page 2025-01-12 09:49:06 +01:00