It's bad enough for some prop planes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics might start having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable options to conventional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to various types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of were started by British air travel leader, 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 regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 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 candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and pests, and produces seeds containing 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 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 task.
The most recent airline to start try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One truly encouraging advancement has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers consequently preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving simply to satisfy someone else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Swen Dacomb edited this page 2025-01-18 08:17:00 +08:00