It's bad enough for some propeller airplanes to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics might begin 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 costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to traditional 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 leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly 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 thought about too bad for growing mainstream foods.
Jatropha is a genus of roughly 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 resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research study and development into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical experts for the project.
The current airline to start exploring with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has carried out internal US flights utilizing a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging advancement has been the relocation away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers therefore avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in cars and trucks triggered a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted excessive 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 blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving simply to please another person's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
joliegolden75 edited this page 2025-01-17 14:47:23 +08:00