It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be referred to as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics might start having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find practical options to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to numerous types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods.
Jatropha is a genus of approximately 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 containing 27-40% oil.
Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to bring out research study and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic experts for the task.
The latest airline company to start try out new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights using a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating development has actually been the move away from which compete head on with food customers thereby preventing a price spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in cars and trucks caused 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 usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to satisfy somebody else's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
brittneyaguila edited this page 2025-01-11 22:35:37 +00:00