It’s bad enough for some propeller planes to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae. With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from rising oil prices and environmental legislation, the race is on to find viable alternatives to traditional kerosene and these so far seem to boil down to various types of biofuel. Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each used different blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs. Jatropha is a genus of approximately 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae. Currently the oil from Jatropha curcas seeds is used for making biodiesel fuel in Philippines and in Brazil, where it grows naturally and in plantations in the Southeast, and the North/Northeast Brazil. In
read more