It's bad enough for some prop planes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics might start having a dig at business airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
jatropha curcas 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 pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to carry out research and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic experts for the job.
The most recent airline company to begin explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One truly encouraging development has been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers thus preventing a price spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in use of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined true blessing certainly if some people wound up starving simply to satisfy another person's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Leila Strain edited this page 1 week ago