Virgin Atlantic Airways Initiates Greening of the Aviation Industry Through Collaborative Testing of Alternative Biofuels on Jet Aircraft

Sir Richard Branson, of Virgin Atlantic Airways, has announced its plans to pioneer in the use of alternative biofuels to power its airplanes. The joint biofuel demonstration/testing will be in collaboration with Boeing Company and General Electric (GE). Initially, the tests will be done on a (passenger-free) Boeing 747-400 aircraft, using a fuel blend of 60% conventional aviation fuel and 40% alternative biofuel. If the test is successful, further trials are planned for a 50% conventional-50% biofuel blend.

One important requirement for aviation fuel is that it should not freeze at cold temperatures normally encountered at high altitudes. The fuel should have good “cold-flow properties”. Ethanol-based biofuels are said to freeze at 15,000 feet, and therefore may not be suitable. As an alternative to bioethanol, the use of next-generation biofuels, based on “biobutanol” and also synthetic biofuels (from thermochemical processing of biomass) have been mentioned. Africa has also been identified as one possible area where biofuel crops can be planted to meet biojetfuel demand, and at the same time, alleviate poverty in the continent.