It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at business aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover feasible options to conventional kerosene and these so far appear to come down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of regular 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 around 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 best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, 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 transferred to bring out research and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic consultants for the project.
The most recent airline to begin explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One truly motivating development has been the move far from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thereby preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in cars triggered a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving just to please somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Bess Shelby edited this page 2025-01-13 02:56:51 +08:00