Continental Biofuel Flight Reduced Fuel Consumption and Emissions

US carrier Continental Airlines has announced positive results from a recent test flight that involved alternative fuels.  The alternative fuels flight – which Enviro-News reported on earlier in 2009 – was carried out using a twin-engined Boeing 737-800 airliner, with one engine powered entirely by conventional jet fuel and the other, by a hybrid blend of jet fuel and material converted into fuel from organic material. 

According to the results – released into the public domain by Continental on June 17th – the biofuel demonstrated a slight energy efficiency edge over the conventional fuel, at times being over one per cent more efficient during the one-and-a-half hour long trial flight.

Continental – ranked number five in terms of dominant global airlines – added that use of the biofuel had reduced emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases by a minimum of 60 per cent – possibly up to 80 per cent. 

Airline Industry’s Environmental Footprint

Airlines have been looking into using different types for fuel for some time now, in an attempt to both combat the effect of rising fuel prices, and to implement new environmentally friendly technologies to reduce the airline industry’s environmental footprint.

In Continental’s case, the biofuel used during the January 2009 alternative fuels flight was made up of oil produced by jatropha plants and algae - provided by Terasol Energy and Sapphire Energy respectively – and the ratio of biofuel-to-conventional fuel in the Boeing 737’s engine was 50:50.

The flight involved the aircraft being flown in a number of different configurations including at increased and decreased speeds, and with one engine shut down.

Aviation Biofuels

Overall, the flight seemed to prove the viability of aviation biofuels but where to go from here?  In comments made alongside Continental’s June 17th statement, the airline’s managing director of global environmental affairs, Leah Raney, stated: “we [Continental] hope to see these fuels produced in commercial quantities in the near future.”  Prior to being able to use these types of fuels on a large-scale, formal certification would be needed, while biofuel firms would also need to launch large-scale production programmes.
 
Notably, while previous alternative fuel flight tests had taken place prior to the January 2009 Continental flight, these had involved neither a US carrier, nor a twin-engined airliner in the Boeing 737 class.