Lufthansa and Airbus launched their first biofuel link by delphine thebault, Monday July 18, 2011
As of next January, except in the event of a drama, the airlines will no longer have a choice: they will have to comply with new European regulations which consist in buying pollution permits in order to be able to fly over the Old Continent. Just to lighten the bill as much as possible, they are already looking for the best alternatives to reduce their CO2 emissions. We mentioned it, Air France - KLM announced a few weeks ago that two hundred flights operating between Paris and Amsterdam (Netherlands) will soon have their tanks filled 50% with kerosene and 50% with frying oil. The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus and the German company Lufthansa have launched the world's first daily passenger flights powered by biofuel.
An Airbus A321 took off last Friday from Hamburg (Germany) at 11:15 am bound for Frankfurt (Germany). It will henceforth provide four daily return flights between the two metropolises and will be powered in half by biosynthetic kerosene. This decision, which will initially result in a six-month trial during which the use of biofuel should make it possible to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 15 tonnes, following the approval of the use of this type of fuel by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials) on July 000.
“Lufthansa is the first company in the world to use biofuels in daily flight operations. We are constantly continuing to implement our proven and successful strategy for sustainability, ”commented its CEO Christoph Franz.
If the cost of this alternative gasoline would today be twice that of a traditional kerosene, he believes that this effort is necessary from an environmental point of view. The depletion of petroleum resources will also lead to a continued rise in kerosene prices. A priori attractive, the initiative of the Lufthansa is however not exempt from all reproach, far from it: biofuel is made up of jatropha, camelina and animal fats. However, even if the company (which would have improved its energy efficiency by more than 30% since 1991) assured that "the production of gasoline is not in direct competition with food production", the intensive cultivation of jatropha is in the crosshairs of many NGOs because of its contribution to deforestation.
It would therefore be better to follow in the footsteps of the Franco-Dutch duo by opting for frying oil…
Source: http://www.zegreenweb.com/sinformer/luf ... rant,31096
(hey Obamot, this site is already more Christmas tree than your forum preferred not?)
Uh technologically, I find it very hard to believe that this is vegetable oil (without transesterification therefore) which is directly mixed with kerosene especially at 50%, for all the reasons one can imagine given the conditions in aeronautics and the risks involved! (increase in cloud point and viscosity ... in particular!).
