Earlier this week, Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ) completed the first commercial aviation test flight powered in part by biofuel made from jatropha.
More than a dozen key performance tests were undertaken in the two hour test flight on Monday which took-off from Auckland International Airport.
A biofuel blend of 50:50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel was used to power one of the Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400’s Rolls-Royce RB211 engines.
Jatropha is a plant that grows to approximately three metres high and
produces seeds that contain inedible lipid oil that is used to produce
fuel. Each seed produces between 30 and 40% of its mass in oil and
jatropha can be grown in a range of difficult conditions, including
arid and otherwise non-arable areas, leaving prime areas available for
food crops.
The test flight was a joint initiative between Air New Zealand, Boeing (NYSE: BA), Rolls-Royce (RR.L) and Honeywell’s UOP (NYSE: HON), with support from Terasol Energy.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Rob Fyfe said the completion of the flight is a significant milestone.
“It is Air New Zealand’s long-term goal to become the world’s most environmentally sustainable airline and we have today made further significant progress towards this,” says Mr Fyfe.
Tests were completed at various altitudes and under a variety of operating conditions to measure the biofuel’s performance.
The jatropha oil Air New Zealand sourced and refined for its test flight came from South Eastern Africa (Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania) and India. It was sourced from seeds grown on environmentally sustainable farms, according to an Air New Zealand release.
The test flight partners engaged Terasol Energy, a leader in sustainable jatropha development projects, to independently source and certify that the jatropha-based fuel for the flight met all sustainability criteria.
Once received from Terasol Energy, the jatropha oil was refined through a collaborative effort between Air New Zealand, Boeing and leading refining technology developer UOP, utilising UOP technology to produce jet fuel from renewable sources that can serve as a direct replacement to traditional petroleum-based fuel.
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