It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be explained as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at business aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to various types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the 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 aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to perform research and advancement 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 current airline company to with new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, 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 rate spiral. Not so long back, a rise in usage of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize prices 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 curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving just to satisfy someone else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Liam Folsom edited this page 2025-01-12 08:10:20 +09:00