ANZ to conduct 747-400 biofuel tests

[Pedota]

This is from Airline Transport World

ANZ, Boeing, Rolls-Royce to conduct 747-400 biofuel test flight
Monday October 1, 2007

Air New Zealand, Boeing and Rolls-Royce signed an MOU to conduct jointly what they claimed will be the first trial of a commercial 747 operated with biofuel.

The test flight will take place in late 2008 or early 2009 using an ANZ 747-400. The aircraft will not carry passengers and only one engine will run on the blended biofuel/kerosene mix. While the flight may use biofuel sourced from around the globe, ANZ CEO Rob Fyfe told media that the airline is "keen to encourage research into alternative fuels in New Zealand."

Boeing President-Australia and South Pacific Region Craig Saddler said in a conference call that the company is "now exploring second-generation biofuel feed stocks and processes that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gases throughout their entire lifecycle."

ATWOnline understands that one possible source for the biofuel is New Zealand's Aquaflow Bionomic Corp., which conducted the first biodiesel tests last year.

by Geoffrey Thomas

[Aussie]

Yeah i saw this in the SMH yesturday! Good to see they are plannning for the future! Hope it works out for them

[ZK-NSJ]

if it dosnt go well, i cant imagine a 744 engine to be cheap,
although the plane wont be in danger

[Buster Hyman]

JetA1-AvGas-Bang Juice....now Sheeps Piss?? Brilliant! :}:ouch::suspect:

[Going Boeing]

if it dosnt go well, i cant imagine a 744 engine to be cheap,

I'm sure that RR and Boeing will have researched the new fuel thoroughly prior to the flights and Air NZ will have a deal with RR covering the cost of parts during the subsequent overhaul.

It's good to see fuel supplies remain available as the oil starts to run out, but, there's still a lot of research to be done to reduce emissions by a really significant amount.

[FL440]

Engine damaged by running on Biofuel.....
Thats hilarious!

Turbines will run on just about anything you can get into the combustor can, avgas, coal dust etc etc, so im sure a bit of bio fuel wont hurt it!