It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics might begin having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible options to conventional kerosene and these so far seem to come down to various kinds of biofuel.
Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel 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 regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic specialists for the task.
The most recent airline to start experimenting with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted 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 harmful emissions by 10%.
One really motivating advancement has been the relocation far from biofuels which contend head on with food customers therefore avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving just to please another person's green credentials.
1
Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
chasclemmons82 edited this page 2025-01-17 22:59:05 +01:00