Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.


With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from rising oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to boil down to different kinds of biofuel.


Not remarkably, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foods.


Jatropha is a genus of around 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 very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.


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


The most current airline company to begin 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 truly encouraging development has actually been the relocation far from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a price spiral. Not so long earlier, a surge in use of biofuels in cars 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 mixed blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to please another person's green credentials.