The American airline Continental operates a flight powered by biofuel, proving that the global tourism industry can move to biofuels without fear
The present experiment joins thePrevious commercial trial held last year in New Zealand by Boeing, and it proves (once again) that commercial flights powered by biofuel are achievable. This time Boeing performed the experiment with an American partner - Continental - the fourth largest airline in the United States.
Continental, like many airlines in the world, are affected by the volatility in energy prices and do everything they can to lower input costs. The test flight proves once again that the global aviation industry is looking for alternatives to expensive and polluting jet fuel.
Continental's experiment was planned for more than 9 months in collaboration with Boeing and other partners. First, various adjustments were made in order to analyze the bio-fuel composition and adapt it to the aircraft's requirements and strict inspection instructions such as regulations regarding freezing point.
After the basic preparations were completed, the company performed the experiment in order to test the differences between traditional jet fuel and the new biofuel. The experiment was carried out on January 7, 2009 on a Boeing 737-800 that took off from the airport in Houston, the plane was flown by a test pilot when the plane was empty of passengers. The flight lasted about two hours and passed without incident.
The purpose of the experiment was to test whether biofuels produced from plant oil can replace standard jet fuel and whether the move is worthwhile. For this purpose, a performance analysis was performed during the flight: engine number 2 will be fueled with a mixture consisting of 50% traditional jet fuel and 50% bio-fuel, and engine number 1 will be fueled with 100% bio-fuel, the changes in function were measured with a special instrument for later analysis .
According to the companies partnering in the experiment, "what we found is that the second-generation fuels that are currently in the experimental stages come close in their properties to traditional jet fuel." Regarding the environmental impact, it was said that, "an engine powered by a mixture of fuels emits less smoke than an engine powered by traditional fuel".
"The simple combination of sunlight, CO2 and algae produces a renewable energy source that has the potential to change the structure of the petrochemical industry forever," said Jason Pyle, "Today's flights take us one step away from fossil fuel and energy dependence."
Boeing's goal in this experiment is to continue its long-term strategy of building small and economical planes for its customers, in contrast to its European competitor Airbus which prefers to lower costs for customers by building larger planes that cram more people per flight.
The biofuel used was developed in the UOP refining technologies in collaboration with growers and developers in the Terasol Energy project to develop biofuel produced from the plant. The biofuel was produced from vegetable oil will be killed, and was adapted to the manufacturer's requirements according to specifications provided by Boeing and Continental.
It would not be an exaggeration to state that the environmental revolution in the aviation industry is already here, although it is quiet, but the direction in which the influential players are moving should not be ignored. According to the number of publications in the industry It seems that other companies will start conducting similar experiments to integrate the new fuel mix on a regular basis in the aircraft fleets around the world.
