It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find to traditional kerosene and these so far 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 limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the finest 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 aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic specialists for the task.
The newest airline company to start experimenting with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out internal US flights utilizing 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 really encouraging advancement has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long back, a surge in usage of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a blended true blessing indeed if some people wound up starving simply to please somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
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