Air New Zealand 747 flies biofuel test flight

[Atlas Shrugged]

Air New Zealand 747 flies successful biofuel test flight
December 31, 2008 - 12:43PM - Sydney Morning Herald

Air New Zealand has successfully flown a test flight powered by second-generation biofuel, hailing it as a "significant milestone" in the development of sustainable fuels for aircraft.

The airline used a 50-50 blend of standard jet fuel and synthetic fuel made from the oil of jatropha plant seeds to power one of the engines on a Boeing 747 during a two-hour test flight from Auckland International Airport on Tuesday.

It was the world's first test flight using jatropha biofuel and followed a Virgin Atlantic test flight earlier in the year using a blend including coconut oil and babassu nut oil.

"We undertook a range of tests on the ground and in flight with the jatropha biofuel performing well through both the fuel system and engine," Air New Zealand chief pilot Dave Morgan said.

Further analysis of the Rolls-Royce engine and fuel systems will now be conducted as the airline works to have jatropha certified as an aviation fuel.

The test flight was a joint venture involving Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell company UOP, with support from Terasol Energy.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said the completion of the flight was "a significant milestone" towards becoming an "environmentally sustainable airline."

Prime Minister John Key, who is also tourism minister, described the flight as a "historic day for aviation," noting that the fortunes of Air New Zealand and New Zealand's tourism industry were closely tied.

AFP


I wonder what the long-term effects on engines will be?

I recall an article somewhere about 18 months ago saying that the jatropha bush was unlikely to be used as alternative energy but can't remember why. It's supposed to be a poisonous weed used as a constipation remedy!

[Q300]

Yer it went really well.
Jatropha is a weed, but it's quite resilient and abundant. Goldman Ssachs reckons it's a good candidate for alternative fuels.

[flying-spike]

Pity you blokes can't run it on Lanolin. That would be sure to be a winner!
Happy New Year:ok:

[Old Fella]

"It's supposed to be a piosonous weed used as a constipation remedy" Does this mean that engines run on this fuel will never sh*t themselves?

Happy New Year to all.

[R.OCKAPE]

if its a remedy for constipation maybe not...

[henry crun]

We are going to leave the trials with lanolin to Oz flying-spike, you have got lots more sheep than NZ. :p

[Transition Layer]

you have got lots more sheep than NZ.

we've got lots more kiwis than NZ too!

[topend3]

i think one of the big problems with jatropha is the amount that would be required to run a fleet of aircraft and where one would find the room to grow it all...however this is a great step and air new zealand should be congratulated on this pro-active step.

[henry crun]

topend3: It will grow productively on non-arable land, with the added advantage that it is pest and drought resistant.

One estimate I have seen says that there are more than 800 million hectares around the world that are suitable.
I assume that some of those areas would be in Australia.

[RampDog]

Sydney airport's JetA1 daily usage on average is approximately 5 million litres
a day! Now multiply that by every international port in the world and consider that it will take lots:ok: of weeds to provide a genuine alternative fuel source. I don't think that Shell and Caltex have too much to worry about!:ok:

[who_cares]

Anyone know if the bio fuel they used produces they same amount of energy per litre burnt as JetA1?

Cause if it doesnt I figure that you will need more of it in your tank to go the same distance using JetA1.

[Splitpin44]

Jatropha is the old school way of making renewable fuels.......this is the new way Algae fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algae_fuel)


The United States Department of Energy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy) estimates that if algae fuel replaced all the petroleum fuel in the United States, it would require 15,000 square miles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_mile) (40,000 square kilometers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square_kilometer)), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland), or 1.3 Belgiums (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium).This is less than 1/7th the area of corn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn) harvested in the United States in 2000.

[Massey058]

Isn't there a company in Blenheim (don't think it was Safeair) that was working with Boeing on an Algae fuel?

[JaseAVV]

are the stories true about massive deforestation as poorer countries scramble to create crops of future biofuels?

We aren't gonna create the situation where we would've just been better off keeping the natural forests and running on the current energy sources?

[Massey058]

In Malaysia and Indonesia native forests are making way for Palm plantations. It does seem a bit oxymoronic when there are large burns occurring to clear areas for Palm plantations.

Some days in Medan, North Sumatra when there is a lot of forest burning going on and you add road-side rubbish burning into the mix you can't see the runway until 2 miles!

[18-Wheeler]

Can't it be grown on the surface of the ocean?
Plenty of room there.

[StallBoy]

Look's like we will be able to start to close down the oil refineries soon:D.
Only one question that no one ever asks is how much energy does it take to produce and refine these alternate fuels. Some figures I have seen on Ethel Alcohol is that it takes 1.2litres of carbon-based energy to produce one litre of Ethel Alcohol without taking the tax breaks into consideration. If this is true we could deplete 100% of our oil reserves to produce 83% of the same amount of alternate energy:ugh:. The Greens and "Global Warming" crusaders will find a way to put a good spin on these figures but look what happened to the price of food when the alternate energy producers moved into the food market:eek:!!!!!

[Cypher]

Isn't there a company in Blenheim (don't think it was Safeair) that was working with Boeing on an Algae fuel?

Aquaflow Bionomic

[UniFoxOs]

Anyone know if the bio fuel they used produces they same amount of energy per litre burnt as JetA1?

Cause if it doesnt I figure that you will need more of it in your tank to go the same distance using JetA1.

According to the septics, who are also claiming the first biofuel flight (LINK (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/09/algae_airliner_test_success/)), their test flight used less biofuel than A1.

UFO

[sprucegoose]

If Jatropha is used to CURE constipation then the risk is that engines WILL
sh!t themselves.......yeah?

[Bjcnz]

I don't think all the companies involving themselves in the creation and creation of sustainable bio fuels believe it will be an out right replacement to JetA1, but its a necessary thing to go through and test all the different avenues before we find a fuel that can be readily produced to keep up with demand, its like anything in technology and science, you have to go through all the stepping stones before you can get to the bacon.

The Jatropha Bean fuel actually seems like a cool idea, I read about it awhile back, and Captain Dave Morgan was the guest speaker at our clubs Wings Dinner and readily spoke about this new fuel, and the key thing was, is that the Jatropha Bean could be produced in the most harshest of conditions where other plants and crops cannot even be attempted to be grown. It requires little water (250mm of annual rainfall), can be grown in the poorest of soils and has a life span of around 40 years so replanting is not required. For every hectare planted it produces around 2000 litres of oil which so far is a higher yield than any other biodiesel crop out there.

So all in all, I think its a huge step forward to finding a sustainable biofuel. And its first used in New Zealand - gotta be good, Boooyaaaa

[skol]

Well you you know what to do Bjcnz.
Buy lots of land and grow jatropha, you'll make yourself a fortune. Dave Morgan can't be wrong.
Maybe in the outback of Australia or sophisticated places like Somalia or Ethiopia.

[Bjcnz]

Haha on all that money I have from training as a pilot and soon instructor wages, oooh yeeeaah. But then again, if it can be grown in harsh places they must be going for cheap! All us pilots should get together and purchase all the land, and then exploit all the oil we find underneith that land! We'll be rich, move over oil tycoons, its the Jatropha Girls and Boys now

[Eight Ball]

I also remember reading this article once about the U.S. successfully using a synthetic fuel for their C-17 aircraft that flew a trans-continental flight. Didn't mention what was the mixture of the fuel though. here's the article below:
**********************************************************
This week the US Air Force achieved the first supersonic flight using alternative synthetic fuel (http://gizmodo.com/tag/synthetic-fuel/), booming a B-1B Lancer over the White Sands Missile Range airspace in New Mexico without any problems. The supersonic strategic bomber (http://gizmodo.com/tag/bomber/), designed to deliver atomic weapons, will be able to start Armageddon at $30 to $50 less per barrel while helping the environment and without depending on foreign oil.
************************************************************

A historic flight occurred on Tuesday August 19th when a United States Air Force F-15 Eagle combat jet exceeded Mach 2 while powered by a synthetic fuel blend.
The flight marked the first time ever that a combination of synthetic and regular jet fuel had been used in an air superiority fighter and followed similar tests in which a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft and Rockwell B1b Lancer and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress strategic bombers had been used.
Synthetic Fuel Trials

In the opinion of the USAF's Alternative Fuels Certification Office's Director, Jeff Braun, fighter types like the F-15 posed a very different challenge to the aircraft employed in previous synthetic fuel trials.
"They are much higher performance and a much more demanding environment", Braun said, subsequently detailing the various aspects of Tuesday's tests.
In the morning, he stated, the F-15's engines were run at ground level, and afterburner engaged - a stage Braun described as "just another risk reduction step to prove the aircraft was not leaking fuel and the engines were behaving nominally."
Later on that same day, the F-15 took off for a "full functional check flight" lasting "about 55 minutes."
During this flight, it achieved Mach 2.2 - about 1,450 miles per hour.
Braun added that, post-flight, the F-15's pilots were asked if they were aware of any changes from their perspective.
"We asked them point-blank if they noticed any difference in performance and they said it was a 'non-event'", he said.
"In other words, they couldn't tell the difference. The aircraft behaved the same."
Further flight tests were being carried out as these words were typed, as detailed by Braun:
"We'll have two more sorties then the Robins [Air Force Base - where the tests are being carried out] engineers will put their final analysis and reports together."