It's bad enough for some to be explained as being powered by elastic band. Now the cynics could start having a dig at industrial airplane flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.
With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find viable options to standard kerosene and these so far seem to come down to various types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of routine 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 cited 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 major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research study and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as tactical specialists for the task.
The most recent airline company to start exploring with brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has conducted internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is claimed, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.
One actually motivating advancement has actually been the move far from biofuels which contend head on with food consumers thereby preventing a cost spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing certainly if some people ended up starving just to please another person's green qualifications.
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Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum
arlenserisier edited this page 2025-01-11 13:48:02 +00:00