Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might start having a dig at commercial airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to conventional kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to numerous kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted 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 considered too poor 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 jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research study and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical specialists for the project.
The newest airline to start explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has carried out internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging development has actually been the move far from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thus preventing a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in cars triggered a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing indeed if some people wound up starving simply to satisfy another person's green credentials.