An Airbus A380 aircraft has successfully completed the world’s first ever flight by a commercial aircraft using a liquid fuel processed from gas (Gas to Liquids – GTL) in the first stage of a test flight program to evaluate the environmental impact of alternative fuels in the airline market. The flight from Filton, UK to Toulouse, France, lasted three hours.
Shell International Petroleum provided the Shell GTL Jet Fuel. The tests are running in parallel to the agreement signed in November 2007 with the Qatar GTL consortium partners and the results will be shared.
The A380 has four engines including segregated fuel tanks making it ideal for engine shut down and re-light tests under standard evaluation conditions. During the flight, engine number one was fed with a blend of GTL and jet fuel whilst the remaining three were fed with standard jet fuel.
Airbus said in a statement that "this is the first step of a long-term Airbus testing phase to evaluate viable and sustainable alternative fuels for the future." The company says GTL could be available at certain locations to make it a practical and viable drop-in alternative fuel for commercial aviation in the short term.
"GTL has attractive characteristics for local air quality, as well as some benefits in terms of aircraft fuel burn relative to existing jet fuel," the company said. "Synthetic fuel can be made from a range of hydrocarbon source material including natural gas or organic plant matter made by a process called Fischer-Tropsch."
EU Airline Industry Project
In related news, the EU announced that it has set aside 800 million euros from its 2007-2013 budget to be matched by investments from the airline industry to fund the Clean Sky Project.
According to Marc Vantre, CEO of French conglomerate Safran’s aerospace propulsion division, the three main objectives of the project are to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 50%, reduce nitrous dioxide emissions by 80% and halve the level of noise pollution surrounding airports.
Reuters reported that 86 organisations from 16 of the EU’s 27 countries have joined Clean Sky. They include 54 industries, 15 research centres and 17 universities.
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