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Air New Zealand 747 flies biofuel test flight
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 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! |
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. |
Alternative Fuel
Pity you blokes can't run it on Lanolin. That would be sure to be a winner!
Happy New Year:ok: |
Bio-Fuel
"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. |
if its a remedy for constipation maybe not...
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We are going to leave the trials with lanolin to Oz flying-spike, you have got lots more sheep than NZ. :p
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you have got lots more sheep than NZ. |
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.
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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. |
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: |
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. |
Jatropha is the old school way of making renewable fuels.......this is the new way Algae fuel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 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 (40,000 square kilometers), which is a few thousand square miles larger than Maryland, or 1.3 Belgiums.This is less than 1/7th the area of corn harvested in the United States in 2000. |
Algae
Isn't there a company in Blenheim (don't think it was Safeair) that was working with Boeing on an Algae fuel?
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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? |
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! |
Can't it be grown on the surface of the ocean?
Plenty of room there. |
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:!!!!! |
Isn't there a company in Blenheim (don't think it was Safeair) that was working with Boeing on an Algae fuel? |
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. UFO |
If Jatropha is used to CURE constipation then the risk is that engines WILL
sh!t themselves.......yeah? |
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