Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Angelica Andes upravil túto stránku 1 týždeň pred


It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.

With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find practical options to conventional kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to various types of biofuel.

Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foods items.

Jatropha is a genus of around 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.

In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the finest candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to carry out research study and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic consultants for the task.

The current airline company to start exploring with 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 mixture, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.

One truly motivating development has been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food customers consequently avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in cars and trucks triggered 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 consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing certainly if some people ended up starving simply to please someone else's green credentials.