It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to different types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel leader, 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 various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods.
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 mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to carry out 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 specialists for the task.
The most recent airline to begin try out new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One truly motivating advancement has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers thus avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long back, a surge in use of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and motorists will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to satisfy another person's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
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