Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

Aus Vokipedia
Wechseln zu: Navigation, Suche


It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at business airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to .


With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable options to traditional kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to numerous types of biofuel.


Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel use in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil thought about too poor for growing mainstream foods.


jatropha curcas is a genus of approximately 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 finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.


Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research study and advancement into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic consultants for the task.


The current airline company to begin try out brand-new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually performed internal US flights utilizing a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.


One actually motivating development has been the move away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers consequently avoiding a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles 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 intake on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed true blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving simply to please somebody else's green credentials.

Meine Werkzeuge
Namensräume

Varianten
Aktionen
Navigation
Werkzeuge