Airlines Focus On Biofuel Trials Gather Momentum

[indiralinderman]

<br>It’s bad enough for some prop planes to be explained as being powered by elastic band. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.<br>
<br>With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil costs and ecological legislation, the race is on to find feasible alternatives to conventional kerosene and these so far appear to boil down to various types of biofuel.<br>
<br>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 restricted biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil thought about too bad for growing mainstream foods items.<br>
<br>Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.<br>
<br>In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the finest candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.<br>
<br>Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to carry out research and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as for the job.<br>
<br>The most recent airline company to begin exploring with 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 mix, it is declared, can cut damaging emissions by 10%.<br>
<br>One truly encouraging advancement has actually been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food customers thus avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize costs as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.<br>
<br>Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a combined blessing certainly if some people wound up starving just to satisfy somebody else’s green qualifications.<br>

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