It’s no secret that we have to uncover methods to make air journey extra sustainable. Within the U.S. alone, air journey accounts for 10 p.c of greenhouse gasoline emissions, and as the variety of flights taking off every day rises that proportion may go up. To fight this, plane builders and engine producers have begun experimenting with novel methods of powering flight, together with electrical motors and even hydrogen-powered engines. However now, one British airline will trial the primary transatlantic flight to run on one thing known as Sustainable Aviation Gas (SAF).
On November twenty eighth, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 Dreamliner will take off from London’s Heathrow on a flight to JFK in New York. However as a substitute of its two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines working on conventional jet gas, the airplane will likely be fueled for the whole journey on a sustainable different.
This will likely be a primary for the trade, as presently airways are solely permitted to function flights with as much as 50 p.c sustainable fuels blended in with conventional jet gas. For the check flight, Virgin Atlantic has partnered with Air BP and Virent, which can present a brand new gas that cuts lifecycle CO2 emissions by as a lot as 70 p.c.
To make its SAF, Air BP makes use of feedstock resembling used cooking oil and family meals waste. The waste is collected by BP, refined and was a gas that may be blended with jet gas as obligatory. Due to this, it’s usually known as a “drop-in” gas, which helps reduce a number of the emissions from air journey.
Nonetheless, for the Virgin Atlantic flight, this gas gained’t be blended with conventional kerosene fuels, and can as a substitute be used solo – albeit blended with 12 p.c aromatics, which helps it meet the efficiency wants of the flight.
“SAF is at the moment probably the most viable choice to assist us meet the trade’s web zero ambition and within the quick and medium time period it is going to be the one choice for long-haul flights,” mentioned Andreea Moyes, international aviation sustainability director at Air BP in an announcement. “Shifting our trade and coverage in the direction of the usage of 100% SAF is essential as we work in collaboration with key stakeholders to assist decarbonize aviation.”
Previous to takeoff of the flight, Virgin Atlantic and Rolls Royce have carried out intensive floor assessments of the gas within the Rolls-Royce Trent engines that energy the 787 Dreamliner. The Virgin check additionally follows a pilot mission from AirAsia in India, which was the primary flight to be solely powered by SAF.
Regardless of each the India check and this transatlantic flight relying solely on SAF, present targets solely require airways to gas their fleets with 10 p.c SAF by 2030 within the UK. Right here within the U.S., the aviation trade hopes to have entry to three billion gallons of SAF by 2030. The Biden administration additionally introduced that by 2050, all home flights within the U.S. ought to be powered by SAF.
At its peak in 2019, the worldwide business airline trade consumed round 95 billion gallons of jet gas over the yr. Within the U.S., business aviation burned by 1.5 million barrels of aviation gas per day final yr.
