It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at business aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find feasible options to conventional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to various kinds of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal 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 which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foods items.
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 mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects 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 transferred to bring out research and advancement into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical experts for the job.
The current airline company to start try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually 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 really motivating advancement has actually been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a price spiral. Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in cars and trucks caused 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 consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a blended true blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving just to please somebody else's green credentials.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
nganswan17963 edited this page 2025-01-18 03:09:19 +08:00