Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at commercial airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rising oil rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to traditional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to various types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different 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 foods items.
jatropha curcas is a genus of around 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.
In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and pests, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.
Recently, US Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to carry out research and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic consultants for the project.
The current airline to begin exploring with new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed 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 truly encouraging development has actually been the relocation away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers consequently avoiding a price spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in usage of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel intake on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing indeed if some individuals ended up starving simply to please somebody else's green qualifications.