It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find feasible alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to different kinds 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 quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil thought about 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 mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to bring out research and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic specialists for the job.
The most recent airline to start exploring with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really motivating advancement has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thereby avoiding a price spiral. Not so long back, a surge in use of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing indeed if some people ended up starving simply to satisfy someone else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Bryon Wickham edited this page 2025-01-15 07:57:59 +08:00