The aviation industry has been taking a very serious look at biofuels over the past couple of years for obvious reasons. So it was good to hear from the engine manufacturers themselves recently about their plans to make biofuels a real alternative in the near future.
In a recent interview for BusinessGreen.com, Dr Alan H Epstein, VP Technology and Environment at Pratt & Whitney discussed his views for biofuels in aviation.
The timelines are reassuring, they claim to be on track to certify a biofuel by 2011, working in tandem with GE and Boeing (i.e. 98% of the engine market), to get an engine to run on this certified biofuel.
The biofuel in focus right now is Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene (SPK) which is essentially made out of vegetable oil and hydrogenated in an existing refinery. Dr. Epstein claims that it is better than conventional fuel in terms of particulates and allows for a more efficient engine design that could improve fuel efficiency by a couple of percentage points.
In fact the Japan Airlines demo flightlast January used 50% Jet-A and 50% SPK made from a mixture of Cannelina, jatropha and algae to successfully power one of the four Pratt & Whitney JT9D engines of a JAL-owned Boeing 747-300 aircraft.
Gad Barnea – CEO – FlyMiwok, Inc.
Comments on this entry are closed.