It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find practical options to traditional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to various types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor 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 household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the finest prospects for future biodiesel . It is resistant to dry spell 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 transferred to perform research study and advancement into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical consultants for the job.
The current airline company to start explore 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 mixture, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has been the relocation far from biofuels which compete head on with food customers thereby preventing a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in cars and trucks caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much 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 please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Vickey Fryett edited this page 2025-01-18 03:35:45 +08:00