Airline Industry Finally Looking At Clean Bio Fuel For Jets
By Stephen Brown @SteveBTech is the founder of DigiLyfe, DigitalAfro.com, Nubby.co, and StemStars.org an organization that teaches K-12 Students Technology.
When it comes to CO2 emissions and our eco footprint, the aviation industries approach to clean air has been stuck in the 1970’s. For years the industry turned a blind eye to scientists and conservationists who credited high emission jet fuel as one of the leading causes for climate change. Now the giant 757 sized question has been ‘When is the aviation industry going to start going green?’
Over the past few years, we’ve heard about “green” airliners running on a mixture of jet fuel and biofuels made from compounds like plants and recycled cooking oil. Now, Boeing is looking at blending jet fuel with green diesel, which is already used to fuel thousands of trucks on the road.
Green diesel is derived from very rich oil and fat-based organic compounds. These types of biofuels have been used in planes before however green diesel it’s not processed in the same fashion.
According to studies conducted by Boeing, United, and Delta, the companies discovered blended aviation fuel can produce 50 percent less carbon dioxide than standard petroleum jet fuel. Additionally, green diesel should cost about the same as regular jet fuel, once US government incentives are factored in.
Existing production facilities that are already producing green diesel for ground transportation could conceivably meet up to one percent of the demand for jet fuel.
“We are collaborating with our industry partners and the aviation community to move this innovative solution forward and reduce the industry’s reliance on fossil fuel,” says Dr. James Kinder, a Technical Fellow in Boeing Commercial Airplanes Propulsion Systems Division.