The most recent airlines involved in this biofuel testing, said the U.S. Department of Energy, included Air New Zealand, Continental Airlines and Japan Airlines. These three followed in the wake of a biofuel test early last year by Virgin Atlantic, which got a Boeing 747-400 from London to Amsterdam in about 40 minutes on a mix of Babassu and coconut oils. That particular flight reached an altitude of 25,000 feet.

The Air New Zealand flight, conducted December 30, was a two hour test run out of Auckland, using a biofuel blend of 50:50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel to power one of the plane"s engines. Continental"s biofuel test, done on January 7, worked off of one engine as well and was run out of Houston. The biofuel blend for that flight, mixed 50:50 with regular jet fuel, included components derived from algae and jatropha plants.

As for the Japan Airlines flight, conducted on January 30, it too did a straight down the middle blend of regular jet fuel and biofuel. It was flown of out Tokyo for an hour-and-a-half, with the biofuel mixture consisting of amelina (84%), jatropha (under 16%), and algae (under 1%). No passengers were carried on any of these flights, which did a number of tests on systems to determine effectiveness of the fuel mixes. Boeing, among others, was involved in most of the tests.

Camelina, grown for 3,000 years primarily to produce vegetable oil and animal feed, is suddenly a very popular plant. The relatively low cost to convert it into fuel could make it competitive with gasoline and diesel. with fewer harmful emissions. And it’s rich in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, which could make it attractive as a food oil. Growers from Montana to the plains of Canada are planting the crop.

JAL used a 50/50 of the biofuel and traditional aviation fuel in the aircraft’s No. 3 engine, without having to make any modifications to the engine, the airline said. The plane flew without cargo or passengers. Analysts from JAL, Boeing and Pratt and Whitney, which made the jet’s engines, will now pour over data to analyze the fuel’s performance. That process could take several weeks, the companies said. The pilot reported a smooth flight with no problems. ...

Boeing Japan President Nicole Piasecki said airlines could be flying revenue-producing flights with biodiesel in three to five years. In that time, Tom Todaro, chief executive of Sustainable Oils Inc., which supplied the camelina used in the test flight fuel, said there could be as much as 200 million gallons of camelina-based fuel being produced annually.

Visit my Blog...