It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at commercial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover practical alternatives to conventional kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to different kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas 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 household Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is to dry spell and pests, 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 and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic consultants for the job.
The latest airline company to start explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging advancement has been the relocation far from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers therefore avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise 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, airlines and vehicle drivers 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 simply to please somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
dillondeloach8 edited this page 2025-01-18 07:24:31 +08:00