It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be explained as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics might begin having a dig at business aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover viable options to standard kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to various types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with minimal 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 foods.
Jatropha is a genus of around 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 finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic consultants for the task.
The current airline company to start try out new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is declared, can cut harmful by 10%.
One truly encouraging development has been the relocation away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers therefore preventing a price spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in usage of biofuels in cars triggered 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 and algae. It would be a blended blessing indeed if some people wound up starving just to please another person's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Kim Esmond edited this page 2025-01-18 06:05:07 +08:00