Le Bourget Air Show: In a highly-competitive environment, Airbus and Boeing are testing biofuels to lower air pollution in air traffic transport

Le Bourget Air Show was the backdrop to the first trans-Atlantic flight for a commercial aircraft operating on biofuels, as made by the new Boeing Cargo carrier (747-8 Freighter). Making use of the mixture of cameline-based biofuel (15%) and traditional kerosene (85%) did not require any adjustments to the aircraft, Boeing stated, or to its engines or operational pre-flight procedures.

At the same time, Airbus scored another world premier by flying a Diamond DA42 100%-run on farmed-algal biofuel.

The European aircraft manufacturer had also completed, a few weeks earlier, a first demonstration flight of an Airbus A320, using jatropha-based biofuel.

Since the first test flights began in 2008, synthetic fuels and so-called second-generation biofuels, made from non-agricultural raw materials, have stirred great hope for airlines, subject to increasing pressure to drastically cut back on their CO2 emissions. 

Another indicator of the airline industry’s growing interest in renewable energy sources of this kind can be found in the fact that the latest edition of the Le Bourget Air Show offered, for the first time, this year, an area dedicated to alternative aeronautic fuels.

References:
http://www.boeing.fr/ViewContent.do?id=64743&Year=2011&aContent=Le%20Boeing%20747-8%20Freighter,%20aliment%C3%A9%20en%20biocarburant,%20atterrira%20au%20Bourget%20lundi
http://www.campagnesetenvironnement.fr/airbus-et-boeing-testent-les-biocarburants-3455.html
http://www.enerzine.com/6/11732+a320---1er-vol-utilisant-du-biocarburant-au-jatropha+.html
http://www.salon-du-bourget.fr/fr/le-salon/actualites-du-salon#45

Elizabete DA SILVA MARQUES, Analyst

Biofuels: Sugarcane Farming – A Win-Win Situation for Climate Change?

A team of researchers at the Carnegie Institution have just showed that, in addition to the significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions that would otherwise be produced by the use of fossil fuels, sugarcane farming might well have another unexpected benefit on global warming compared to other types of farming. In Brazil, the large-scale expansion of sugarcane plantations, intended for the production of biofuels in zones previously-occupied by other types of farming, helps cool the local climate.

The group of scientists led by Scott Loarie has noted that by converting natural vegetation into crop/pasture mode in the cerrado, the result was a 1.55°C increase in the average temperature, when the subsequent conversion of sugarcane had cooled the atmosphere by an average of 0.93°C. This phenomenon is said to be ascribable to the fact that sugarcane is more reflective and yields more water than other types of crop/pasture which it replaces.  

According to Scott Loarie, “This means win-win potential for the climate, using sugarcane to run vehicles and lower carbon emissions, when the said growth lowers the temperature of the air in the atmosphere". This study, published on 17 April in "Nature Climate Change", sheds new light on the impact of crop-growing for biofuels and how it can impact climate change in a time of constant and controversial expansion in such crops. 

To illustrate, in early May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) put forth an estimate stating that biofuels will, by 2050, account for 27% of global requirements in the field of transport (as compared to only 2%, currently). 

References
http://www.enerzine.com/6/11881+la-canne-a-sucre-fait-baisser-la-temperature-ambiante+.html
http://www.bioenergie-promotion.fr/13695/un-quart-de-carburants-verts-en-2050/

Fabrice CALBOUR

Project Manager