It’s bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.
With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to various types of biofuel.
Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.
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 best candidates for future biodiesel production.
It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.
The latest airline to start experimenting 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 mixture, it is claimed, can cut harmful emissions by 10%.
One really encouraging development has been the move away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers thereby avoiding a price spiral.
Not so long ago, a surge in use of biofuels in cars caused a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.
Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha and algae. It would be a mixed blessing indeed if some people ended up starving just to satisfy someone else’s green credentials.
Daniel Kidd writes about a range technology issues in the aviation industry and enjoys looking at how this can affect employment. For more information please visit Aviation Jobs
