It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at business aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to traditional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to various kinds of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream .
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research study and development into the usage of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic experts for the task.
The most recent airline to begin explore 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 mix, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has actually been the relocation far from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in usage of biofuels in vehicles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and motorists will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a blended true blessing undoubtedly if some individuals ended up starving just to satisfy someone else's green credentials.
1
Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
Jannie Heberling edited this page 2025-01-11 15:44:02 +03:00