It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil rates and ecological 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 surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by 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 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 cited Jatropha curcas as one of the finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to bring out research and advancement 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 current airline to begin 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 mix, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.
One really motivating advancement has actually been the relocation far from biofuels which compete head on with food customers therefore preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a blended blessing certainly if some people ended up starving simply to satisfy somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
gnqgabriele78 edited this page 2025-01-12 07:47:27 +08:00