mission-biofuels-sdn.-bhd

It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics might start having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.

With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible alternatives to standard kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to different kinds of biofuel.

Not remarkably, the first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal 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 bad for growing mainstream foods items.

jatropha curcas is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.

In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and pests, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research and advancement into making use of to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would serve as strategic consultants for the task.

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

One really encouraging development has actually been the move away from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers therefore preventing a cost spiral. Not so long back, a rise in usage of biofuels in vehicles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much 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 blended true blessing certainly if some people wound up starving simply to please another person's green qualifications.