Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

It's bad enough for some prop planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.


With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now 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 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 routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil thought about too bad for growing mainstream foods.


jatropha curcas is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.


In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and pests, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.


Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to carry out research study and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical specialists for the task.


The current airline company to begin explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted 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 harmful emissions by 10%.


One truly motivating advancement has actually been the move away from biofuels which compete head on with food customers consequently preventing a rate spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.


Hopefully in the future, airlines and vehicle drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to please another person's green credentials.