Virgin says 747 B20 biodiesel test will fly London-Amsterdam route next month; feedstock not disclosed

January 17, 2008

In England, Virgin Atlantic announced that it will make an 80 minute text flight next month using a B20 blend of biodiesel. The biodiesel feedstock was not revealed, but the company said that it would not be palm oil or any other unsustainable feedstock. The flight will involve a crew only and will take the plane from London to Amsterdam. The use of B20 will not require any modifications to the General Electric CF6 engines. The test, resulting from a collaboration between Virgin, Boeing and General Electric, will be mirrored by another test next month by Air New Zealand.

Boeing has confirmed in tests that a wide range of feedstocks can produce biofuels suitable for jet aircraft, and the company says that these biofuels can be commercially produced on an economically viable basis. Boeing said that it expects to offer both financial and technical support to what it sees as a growing distribution system of jet biofuels.

In Nevada, Green Flight International has scheduled the first B100-powered transcontinental jet flight. The company’s BioJet, a retired Czech L-29 military aircraft, will fly this month from an undisclosed location in California to Florida.

Last fall, Green International successfuly conducted a B100 BioJet test flight at Reno. Flight tests were conducted at altitudes of up to 17,000 feet, and showed no material difference in performance compared to kerosene, which is used for jet fuel. The BioJet, is a retired Czechoslovakian L-29 military aircraft.

The tests come in the midst of an ongoing dispute between some environmental groups, such as Friends of the Earth, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on the tally of emissions.

Environmental groups typically include a calculation called “radiative force”, which attempts to multiply greenhouse gas emissions by a factor that takes into account the effect of high altitude. Using this method, it has been stated that airlines are responsible for 12 to 13 percent of all greenhouse gases. IATA uses a figure of 3 percent, or 600 million tons of CO2.

IATA has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth.

Accordingly, IATA has set a goal for the airline industry of producing “zero emission” planes within 50 years. The presumption is that new fuel technologies will emerge that will make this possible.

Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great global industry. Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the way to a carbon emission free future.”

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Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Consumers & Fleets, International