It's bad enough for some prop aircrafts to be explained as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics might start having a dig at commercial aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to liquefied algae.

With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover viable options to standard kerosene and these up until now appear to come down to numerous kinds of biofuel.

Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were started by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel usage in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha curcas which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foodstuffs.

Jatropha is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.

In 2007 Goldman Sachs pointed out Jatropha curcas as one of the very best prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and insects, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to bring out research study and development into making use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would function as strategic consultants for the job.

The most current airline company to start experimenting with new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.

One actually encouraging development has been the relocation away from biofuels which compete head on with food consumers therefore preventing a rate spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles triggered a spike in maize prices as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.

Hopefully in the future, airline companies and motorists will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some individuals wound up starving simply to please somebody else's green credentials.