Biofuels & novel fuels News
Below are links to stories about aviation biofuels.
Air France Says Come Fry With Me to Paris in Jet Fueled by Old Cooking Oil
Air France has flown an Airbus A321 passenger aircraft from Toulouse to Paris Orly airport (354 miles) with a fuel mix comprising 50% used cooking oil in both engines. They claim this was the "greenest" ever, due to the low carbon fuel, and due to helpful air traffic control and continuous descent approach (CDA) the plane flew the shortest available route. All this may have cut CO2 emissions to 54 grams per passenger per kilometre, about half the usual level.
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Jeff Gazzard on “Are biofuel flights good news for the environment?”
Jeff Gazzard, from the Aviation Environment Federation, commenting on the Guardian's page entitled "Are biofuel flights good news for the environment?" sets out just how misguided and unrealistic the aviation industry's claims on biofuels are. The entire aviation industry would require at least 2,810 million barrels by 2030 at current growth rates. At 42 gallons per barrel that's roughly 118,000 million gallons. Biofuels cannot acheive this.
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The only way to fry? First commercial British flight fuelled by used chip fat is met by naked protesters
In response to the Thomson biofuel flight, using 50% used cooking oil in one engine, three Plane Stupid activists staged a naked protest - showing that biofuels are not green, and the Thomson PR exercise is bare faced cheek. Thomson intends, after a 6 week gap, to have many more biofuel flights in 2012. They hope to use used cooking oil, but the airline may have to use other fuels, as it is not likely to get enough of the oil - which is already much in demand.
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Camelina derived oil contributes to Spain’s first commercial biofuel flight carried out by Iberia
An Iberia Airbus A320 has flown its first commercial flight, using a blended jet biofuel from camelina, from Madrid to Barcelona. It burned around 2,800kg of a mixture of 75% Jet A-1 fuel and 25% camelina in both engines. The camelina was grown in the US and supplied and processed by a variety of US companies. This is part of Spain’s pioneering ‘Green Flight’ programme to advance the use of biofuels in aviation. Iberia claims the fuel cut CO2 emissions by 20%.
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UK first as Thomson Airways’ three-year biofuel commercial flight programme finally takes off
A Thomson Airways Boeing 757-200 made the UK’s first commercial flight using biofuel. Using a 50/50 blend of used cooking oil and conventional jet kerosene in one engine, it flew from Birmingham to the Canary Islands. Thomson claims it has pledged to use feedstocks that do,'t compete with food or natural resources and have significantly lower total lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fossil jet fuel.(But not quite how they will achieve this feat).
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Green campaigners condemn Thomson Airways’ biofuels flight
The UK's first commercial flight to be powered by biofuels headed off to the Canary Islands and a storm of controversy. The flight from Birmingham had one engine running on a mixture of 50% standard fuel and 50% biofuel made from waste cooking oil. Environmental campaigners said the pilot project was a gimmick that would end up harming the environment. FoE said biofuels won't make flying any greener, but their production is wrecking rainforests, pushing up food prices and causing yet more climate-changing emissions.
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Thomson Airways’ test biofuels flight from Birmingham to Lanzarote is a hollow PR stunt
Thomson Airways’ test biofuels flight from Birmingham to Lanzarote is a hollow PR stunt that paves the way for rainforest destruction. Thomson today launches the 1st UK commercial flight run on biofuels. The biofuels Thomson will now use include virgin plant oil from the US and babassu nuts from Brazil. Both are in short supply so Thomson is likely to use unsustainable alternatives. Their publicity aims to persuade the travelling public and government, erroneously, that these biofuel flights produce less CO2 and are "greener" than usual.
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Brussels slammed for bad science on biofuels
Environmental NGOs have written to the EC President, José Manuel Barroso, demanding action on 5 scientific studies that question the energy benefits of biofuels, as a row over a land use report by the EU's scientific advisors escalates. The best avialable science was dismissed by the EU. The 5 world-class studies for the EU all agree the Indirect Land Use Change effects of biofuels "could not only negate the expected carbon savings, but even lead to an increase in emissions."
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US Air Force to buy 11,000 gallons of alcohol-to-jet fuel from GEVO
A US company called GEVO in Silsbee, Texas, is converting alcohol (made from wheat) to isobutanol, and then converting this into alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel. It will provide the USAF with up to 11,000 gallons of 'alcohol-to-jet' (ATJ) fuel, which will be used to support engine testing and a feasibility flight demonstration using an A-10 aircraft. Gevo then hopes to become "a supplier of homegrown and renewable jet fuel to our armed services."
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Out of the Deep Fat Fryer … Thomson Airways and its first biofuel flight
With Thomson Airways re-launching their attempts to get regular biofuels flights from Birmingham Airport, green campaigners are raising concerns that new “Sustainable Aviation Biofuels” are actually likely to be more damaging for the environment. After dropping plans to fuel flights with used cooking oil due to insufficient supply, Thomson are now going to be using virgin plant oil from a number of sources, none of which should properly be classified as sustainable.