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Virgin Runs First Biofuel Test Flight
By Mr Ethanol | February 25, 2008
Carbon Positive:
Virgin Atlantic has won the race to be the first to fly a commercial passenger plane on biofuels but the move has drawn criticism from environmental groups.
Virgin has flown a Boeing 747 jumbo jet without passengers from London to Amsterdam over the weekend with one of its four tanks filled with a blend of 80 per cent of the standard jet fuel, kerosene, and 20 per cent biofuel. A quarter of the fuel used overall for the flight was the biofuel-kerosene mix and there were no modifications to the engines required.
The biofuel used was an oil extract from coconuts and babassu nuts, harvested from the Amazon rainforest.
Environmental groups called the test flight a publicity stunt saying the airline is supporting an expansion in the aviation industry which will see greenhouse gas emission increase far outweigh savings from the use of biofuels.
They also criticised the promotion of biofuels as a solution to transport emissions because of concerns that it is not possible to ensure sustainable supplies of ethanol, biodiesel or bio-jet fuel on the scale needed to make a dent in the massive use of fossil fuels in transport.
Virgin says the coconuts and babassu nuts were specifically chosen as the fuel source because they were not used for food. “We did not want to use biofuels such as corn oil which were competing with staple food sources,” Virgin chairman Richard Branson said.
The concern is that the land needed to produce enough biofuel crops to meet rising demand would displace food crops and see native forests cleared. The UK government on Friday announced an inquiry into the environmental impacts of rising biofuel demand. The study will examine the sustainability of Britain’s renewable fuels target for 5 per cent of transport fuels sold by 2010 to be from renewable sources.
Topics: Biofuel, News, Technology, Trends |
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