A Virgin Atlantic jumbo jet flew from London to Amsterdam with one of its fuel tanks filled with a bio-jet blend including babassu oil and coconut oil.
"Today marks a vital breakthrough for the whole airline industry," Virgin founder Richard Branson told reporters in a hangar at Heathrow airport prior to the flight's departure.
British billionaire Branson said, however, it was unlikely the nut of the wild growing babassu palm would play a key role as airlines turn to renewable fuel sources to cut the industry's greenhouse gas emissions.
"We did not want to use biofuels such as corn oil which were competing with staple food sources," he said, adding he believed algae produced in places like sewage treatment farms were the most likely future source of renewable fuel for the airline industry.
Biofuels, which are mainly produced from crops such as grain, vegetable oils and sugar, are seen by advocates as a way to cut emissions of greenhouse gases and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
The biofuels blend on the Virgin flight contained 20% neat biofuel and 80% conventional jet fuel. Branson said tests had shown it was possible to fly with a 40% blend.
Branson, whose Virgin Group business spans an airline, a rail service, drinks, hotels and leisure, has committed to spending all the profits from his airline and rail business to combat global warming by cutting carbon emissions.
Last year, Virgin started to power some of its trains using a fuel containing 20% biodiesel produced mainly using British rapeseed oil blended with US soybean oil and palm oil from the Far East.
Such a soothing discovery to know that airplanes can now run on biodiesel. Especially after reading Bloomberg latest mag, headlined " The End of the Oil Age".
ReplyDeleteWonder how long Airbus and boeing can infuse this. Or do they have their own cards?
richard branson has his share on air Asia here in Malaysia.
ReplyDeletemm sung biofuel, maybe in the future Air Asia will use palm oil into their boeing :)