It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be explained 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 aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover practical options 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 began London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
jatropha curcas 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 finest candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell 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 and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical consultants for the project.
The latest airline company to start explore 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 claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One really motivating advancement has been the relocation away from biofuels which on with food customers thereby avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in cars and trucks caused a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving just to please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
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