New sources of Aviation Biofuels

As aircraft are bound to a liquid fuel (it has the most energy content per weight) alternative resources need to be converted into liquid fuels. The industry needs to consider which source is the best for biofuel, it needs to be relalitively easy to 'harvest' compared to fossil fuel, with no impact on human food or water supply whatsoever and must be environmently friendly.

Aircraft engines still cannot run on water but, indirectly, this water can be and is a source of algae. And these algae have a high yield compared to other biomass sources which makes them very interesting to the energy industry. A big advantage of many biofuels over 'normal' fuel types is that they are biodegradable, and if spilled, are harmless to the environment.

The aviation industry is working hard at reducing fuel consumption, mainly by better engine design, newer cleaner fuels and better aerodynamics and aircraft design.

Environmental Issues

Like any user of petroleum based fuel, the aviation community is aware of the results of using fuel on the environment. To date aviation is responsible for about 2% of man made CO₂ in the atmosphere and a number of studies and industry efforts are active to reduce fuel consumption even further and search for alternative and cleaner fuel options.

Aviation and the environment

Our atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding our planet and it is kept there solely by its gravity caused by the earths magnetic field. It contains Nitrogen, Oxygen, Argon, Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) and minute amounts of other gases and a variable amount (on average between 0-4%) of water vapor (resulting in clouds and rain). This complete mixture is known to us as air.

Off all the CO₂ emitted in the atmosphere (0,036%) only 3% is of human origin (0,00108%). What is the source of the other 97% (nature itself!) and do we really think that reducing our 3% to 2,5% will make any difference at all? There are other processes at work in our ever changing climate.

Worldwide emissions by aviation causes only 2% of all man made CO₂ in the atmosphere (0,0000216%). Taxing fuel will not help, carbon emisions trading is flawed to the bone plus people and the economy will always keep moving.

We must not forget that aviation is one of the most (if not the most) economic method of transportation. There are no real alternatives as of yet. Cleaner fuels are being developed right now and this will increase the advantage aviation has over other forms of transportation.

Energy sources

Energy can be found on this planet in all kinds of forms: in direct sunlight, plants, animal waste, forest residue, algea and a lot more. Basically everything is energy in one form or another. The main source of this is the sun, but as current solar cells do not have yield high enough, we need to tap into a converted form of solar energy.

Fossil fuel is still a relatively easy to find form of energy, but it is not readily renewable (it took the planet thousands, millions of years to create it). So we need another form that is renewable, cheap, has high energy content, is easy to obtain and friendly to the environment.

The only source that will not compete with food supply and other energy sources are inedible plants (jatropha, camelina) and algae. Algae fuel, commonly known as algal fuel is a third generation biofuel made from algae, aka pond scum. Compared with second and even first generation biofuels (made from food sources), algae are high-yield still high-cost (30 times more energy per acre than terrestrial crops) feedstocks to produce biofuels.

Algae love CO₂! It is food for them and they thrive on it. It is therefore not neccessary to store this gas underground to keep it out of the atmosphere. Algae farms can use it to accelerate production and using fuel based on algae is then neutral for the climate (with regard to the CO₂ balance).

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) scientists claim that they are able to produce algea based jet fuel at normal prices by 2011. Production volume is expected to rise to 50 million USG per year in 2011.