It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find feasible options to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the 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 rapidly followed by and Air New Zealand who each utilized different 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 foods.
Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred 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 consultants for the task.
The most current airline company to start try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is declared, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has been the move away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers thereby preventing a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in usage of biofuels in cars and trucks 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 undoubtedly if some people wound up starving simply to please someone else's green credentials.
1
Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Jacquelyn Blazer edited this page 2 months ago