Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
It’s bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to come down to different types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started 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 including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too bad for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very 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 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 consultants for the project.
The current airline company to begin exploring with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually performed internal US flights using a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One truly motivating advancement has been the move away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers therefore preventing a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize rates 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 combined true blessing undoubtedly if some people ended up starving simply to please someone else’s green credentials.