Air NZ Goes Nuts About Fuel Prices

By VAN DEN BERGH, Roeland

AIR New Zealand has chosen the oily nut of the jatropha tree to power its biofuel test flight later this year.

The airline says it expects biofuel will make up about 10 per cent of its total fuel burn of nine million barrels a year by 2013. It is the first airline in the world to set such a target.

Air New Zealand general manager of operations and chief pilot David Morgan said the airline would use jatropha-based fuel in a three-hour test flight, possibly as soon as September.

The previously announced test flight using a Boeing 747-400 would test the performance results of ground testing conducted by partners Boeing and Rolls-Royce, maker of the plane’s engines, Mr Morgan said at a research farm near Honolulu, Hawaii.

The search for a sustainable aviation biofuel has taken on renewed emphasis with sustained record fuel costs and the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, which will carry a cost in the future.

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe said jatropha-based fuel would be at least 30 per cent cheaper than current jet fuel, which reached a record US$174 a barrel last week, more than double the price a year ago.

“We aim to see at least 10 per cent of our total annual needs coming from environmentally sustainable fuels by 2013.”

Air New Zealand wants eventually to power its entire fleet of domestic and international aircraft on 100 per cent biofuel.

Tests have shown jet fuel from jatropha oil to be at least as good as current jet fuel, and aircraft do not need to be modified to use it.

Only one of the four engines on a 747 will run on the biofuel. The other three will use normal jet fuel.

After the test, the engine will be stripped and examined for any effects of using the fuel.

Whether the test engine would use 100 per cent biofuel or a blend with normal jet fuel was yet to be decided, Mr Morgan said.

Earlier this year, Virgin Atlantic, owned by British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, made the first flight using jet fuel blended with 5 per cent biofuel from palm oil.

Jatropha is a tree that grows to about three metres high. It produces a nut containing seeds made up of 30 per cent to 40 per cent non- edible oil.

It is considered an environmentally sustainable second- generation biofuel because it can be grown on challenging arid land and does not compete with food crops.

Biofuels pump out about the same amount of greenhouse gases as fossil-based fuels, but the source crops absorb the equivalent of about half the emissions.

The jatropha oil for the flight test will be harvested from India and southeast Africa. About 1000 trees are being tested at a secret plantation in Northland.

* Roeland van den Bergh travelled to Honolulu courtesy of Air New Zealand.

——————–

(c) 2008 Dominion Post. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.