Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

It's bad enough for some prop airplanes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.


With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil prices and ecological legislation, the race is on to find practical alternatives to traditional kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to different types of biofuel.


Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from 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 family Euphorbiaceae.


In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and pests, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.


Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to perform research and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic specialists for the job.


The most recent airline company to start explore brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out 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 damaging emissions by 10%.


One truly motivating development has actually been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers consequently preventing a rate spiral. Not so long back, a rise in usage of biofuels in vehicles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.


Hopefully in the future, airlines and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some individuals ended up starving just to satisfy somebody else's green credentials.