Envautomental

The Boeing Co., one of the world”s leading manufacturers of commercial airliners, will begin testing jet fuel derived from algae and other biomass and says biofuels could become a feasible alternative within five years.

Faced with says biofuel may be the answer.

Bill Glover, the company”s director of environmental strategy, tells Boeing”s laboratory tests confirmed the practicality of producing jet fuel from a wider variety of feedstocks than previously believed and it thinks aviation biofuel can be mass-produced affordably.

The company plans to test the fuel during demonstration flights of and Air New Zealand.

Expedito Parente, called by some that biomass-derived jet fuel could become viable within two years. Commercial aircraft have a service life of 30 to 40 years, he says, and the need to ensure there will be affordable fuel to keep them going is spurring tremendous interest in biofuel.

The airline industry isn”t alone in exploring aviation biofuel. The Pentagon has enlisted help from are among the petrochemicals also looking for ways to produce biofuel from algae.

First Boeing must prove the stuff works. It plans two demonstration test flight next year, one each by Virgin and Air New Zealand, and will soon select a specific feedstock to provide the fuel.

The airline industry is and Virgin Atlantic say commercial airliners account for 2 percent of global carbon emissions, but that figure is expected to climb alongside the rising volume of air travel.

With that in mind, airlines are looking for ways to reduce fuel consumption. Virgin is experimenting with towing airplanes to runways, rather than having them taxi under their own power. Doing so, the technology, if adopted on all its flights, would reduce fuel consumption by 492 tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 1,550 tons annually.

AeroTech Services says it can can trim fuel consumption by as much as 1.5 percent.