It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from increasing oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to various types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foods items.
Jatropha is a genus of approximately 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 very best prospects 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 aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support to bring out research study 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 job.
The latest airline company to begin try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out 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 actually been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers therefore preventing a price spiral. Not so long back, a surge in usage of biofuels in cars triggered a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing indeed if some individuals wound up starving simply to please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Diana Briley edited this page 3 months ago