Airlines Concentrate On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might begin having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to liquefied algae.


With the civil air travel market under increasing pressure from rising oil costs and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to various kinds of biofuel.


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


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 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 major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to perform research study and advancement into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical experts for the project.


The most recent airline company to start try out new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has performed internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.


One actually motivating advancement has been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers consequently preventing a price spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in vehicles caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.


Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will intake on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a mixed blessing undoubtedly if some people ended up starving just to please another person's green credentials.