Boeing Plans Second International Flight Using Biofuel
6/21/2012
Boeing will continue to explore its use of biofuel to power long-haul flights with an international test flight planned with Air China. Boeing completed a flight from the US to Tokyo with All Nippon Airways in April using a 787 Dreamliner (pictured).
It is time to push past the 50/50 biofuel blend. (Dynamic Fuels biokerosene)
Or perhaps just a price reduction. As it turns out, the bio-fuels used in the airline tests are far more expensive than standard jet fuel. As KLM Royal Dutch Airline, the sector leader of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, stated, "[to meet true sustainability, the price has to] come down substantially and permanently."
Also, more efficient planes should be on the list "to do."
I used to work for a guy (MUCH smarter than me) who would look at something I was working on and say "if this was an airplane would you fly on it?". We were not making aircraft but I always got the message. It made me think things through much more thoroughly.
This seems to be more of a publicity stunt more than anything. Seems to me that they should be testing this fuel on an engine test stand somewhere rather than flying a billion? dollar aircraft around so they can take pictures.
Rob, Liz is the one who's been writing on biofuels in aircraft. I've written about them in shipping (and in Europe, not here): in that case, they're to be blended for use in existing engines. Liz, do you know the answer?
Great to see renewable resources being developed for airline fuel. As this develops further, one interesting trend to watch will be the price of corn and other grains as the demand between food and fuel grows.
I do like the line about local shrubs being used, so hopefully more useable land can be created using this strategy.
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