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Mark · Site Admin Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 1052

Air NZ Test Flight Proves Viability of Biofuel

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0812/S00487.htm

Excerpt:

The world's first commercial aviation test flight powered by the sustainable second-generation biofuel jatropha has been successfully completed in Auckland.

More than a dozen key performance tests were undertaken in the two hour test flight which took-off at 11:30am (NZ time) from Auckland International Airport.

A biofuel blend of 50:50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel was used to power one of the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400's Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.
...

The jatropha oil Air New Zealand sourced and refined for its test flight came from South Eastern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania) and India. It was sourced from seeds grown on environmentally sustainable farms.

Jatropha is a plant that grows to approximately three metres high and produces seeds that contain inedible lipid oil that is used to produce fuel. Each seed produces between 30 and 40 percent of its mass in oil and jatropha can be grown in a range of difficult conditions, including arid and otherwise non-arable areas, leaving prime areas available for food crops.

The partners have been non-negotiable about the three criteria any environmentally sustainable fuel must meet for the test flight programme. These are social, technical and commercial.

Firstly, the fuel source must be environmentally sustainable and not compete with existing food resources. Secondly, the fuel must be a drop-in replacement for traditional jet fuel and technically be at least as good as the product used today. Finally, it should be cost competitive with existing fuel supplies and be readily available.

The criteria for sourcing the jatropha oil required that the land was neither forest land nor virgin grassland within the previous two decades. The quality of the soil and climate is such that the land is not suitable for the vast majority of food crops. Furthermore, the farms are rain-fed and not mechanically irrigated.