{"id":4747,"date":"2011-10-25T14:06:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-25T21:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=4747"},"modified":"2011-10-25T14:06:19","modified_gmt":"2011-10-25T21:06:19","slug":"big-birds-flying-green-economy-class-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/big-birds-flying-green-economy-class-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Birds Flying Green Economy Class (Part One)"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the world waits for the 10X battery, a safe, long-range source of flight for our post-Green Flight Challenge fliers, we will probably have to go aloft powered by some bio-fuel derivative or combination of\u00a0 \u201ctraditional\u201d fossil fuels and biofuel.<\/p>\n

Major players in the airline industry are responding to the probability that things will get a bit thin in finding ready, cheap sources of sweet crude, and are taking on not only the issue of using green energy, but of flying more efficiently \u2013 ala Green Flight Challenge practices and Voyager-type voyages.\u00a0 This interest by the big players in the industry will probably be good for continuing fuel sources for general aviation, too.<\/p>\n

With more activity than can be imagined in this arena, your editor turns to two excellent sources for background: Flightglobal.com<\/em> <\/a>and Greenair Online.com<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0 Recent reports from both show several major\u00a0 successes, but also much political discord between national interest groups that slow progress.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll look at a recent demonstration of low-emissions fuel use and a promising candidate for fossil-fuel replacement in this entry, then discuss the possibilities inherent in changing the conventional methods of routing and controlling aircraft in a second entry to follow soon, and end with a discussion of the international political infighting that threatens the success of these endeavors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Air France Airbus Au21-211<\/p><\/div>\n

Reporting for Flight Global<\/em>, Alex Thomas says that Air France, as of October 18, claims the \u201cworld\u2019s lowest CO2 emissions commercial flight<\/a>\u201d from Toulouse-Blagnac to Paris-Orly.\u00a0 The flight combined use of a50-percent mix of conventional kerosene and \u201cbio-kerosene made from hydrogenated used vegetable oils, and \u201cnew air traffic management technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Light on details otherwise, the report notes Airbus\u2019 claim that the \u201cA321 was able to demonstrate how CO2<\/sup> emissions could be halved in comparison to a regular flight,\u201d and used \u201coptimized flight procedures and a reduced on-board mass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the half emissions claim is based on the fuel only, as the use of a higher cruising altitude and continuous descent gave 10-percent lower emissions than a more \u201ctraditional\u201d flight.<\/p>\n

There is no explanation of the \u201clower mass,\u201d or discussion of the actual passenger miles per gallon compared to a \u201cnormal\u201d flight, but most airplanes perform better carrying less weight.<\/p>\n

With 10 percent of London cabbies now fueling their iconic mounts with veggie oil drained from the Wimpies and MacDonalds of the area, airlines might have a hard time finding enough sources for biofuel alternatives.\u00a0 David Kaminski-Morrow reports that Virgin Atlantic hopes to use synthetic fuels from vented gases captured from heavy industrial plants<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0 Teaming with LanzaTech<\/a>, a Chicago-based energy company (although its web site is New Zealand based), Virgin hopes to obtain fuel-grade ethanol through a gas-to-liquid process \u201ccompressing vented by-product gases from steel, cement and chemical\u00a0factories and fermenting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

“\u2019We take the waste gas normally flared as carbon dioxide and put it in the wing of an aircraft,\u2019 said LanzaTech chief executive Jennifer Holmgren. \u2018It sounds like science-fiction. I assure you, it’s not.\u2019”<\/p>\n

LanzaTech supplies its ethanol to Stockholm’s Swedish Biofuels<\/a>, which converts it to synthetic jet fuel. \u00a0Starting with a 50-50 blend, the company hopes to achieve 100-percent biofuel for use in aircraft, which will begin test flights as the \u201cnext stage… possibly out of Shanghai where a demonstration plant is located.\u201d<\/p>\n

With an initial run of\u00a0 100,000 gallons of ethanol a year slated for late 2011, a commercial operation\u00a0to be commissioned in the early 2013 could produce up to 50 million gallons of\u00a0 jet fuel annually.<\/p>\n

International\u00a0cooperation abounds in this case, with Boeing assisting in certification of the\u00a0jet fuel, with flights from Delhi and Shanghai to London possible within three\u00a0 years.<\/p>\n

According to Flight\u00a0Global<\/em>, \u201cLanzaTech said the gas-capture process could be applied to two-thirds\u00a0of the world’s steel mills and could extend to other heavy plants, even\u00a0potentially to coal-fired power stations.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Zealand already\u00a0hosts a pilot scheme which produces 15,000 gallons of ethanol a year from the\u00a0BlueScope Steel plant at Glenbrook.<\/p>\n

“\u2019In a nutshell, what we’re going into is the recycling business,\u2019 said Virgin Atlantic\u00a0president Richard Branson.\u00a0 “\u2019With the steel\u00a0industry alone able to deliver over 15 billion gallons of jet fuel annually,\u00a0the potential is very exciting.\u2019”<\/p>\n

\u201cSwedish Biofuels has\u00a0been carrying out a four-year project with the US Defense Advanced Research\u00a0Projects Agency (DARPA), during which it demonstrated the capability of its technology\u00a0to produce 100-percent biological aviation fuel – known as SB-JP-8 – from biomass, at\u00a0pilot plant scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the promise that\u00a0such fuels could replace their fossil equivalents, “\u2019It’s the first time\u00a0jet fuel has had a competitor,” said Branson, adding that Virgin Atlantic\u00a0wanted “as many of its aircraft using this fuel as possible.\u2019”<\/p>\n

Since Flight\u00a0Global<\/em> lists over 4,000 news items found under the \u201cEnvironment\u201d search\u00a0term, the level of activity is profound.\u00a0 As with all such enterprises, many attempts will fall by the wayside,\u00a0but the overall direction and impetus are clear and strong at this time.<\/p>\n