Biofuel for Air New Zealand

For those advocating biofuels as one way out of the energy crisis, here is some good news.
Air New Zealand will make the world's first commercial aviation test flight using fuel created from the seeds of the African jatropha plant next month.

Rolls Royce had certified the sustainable second-generation biofuel as suitable for use in the airline's Boeing 747-400 jumbo jets. The two-hour test flight on December 3 would use a 50-50 blend of standard jet fuel and synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from jatropha oil in one of the plane's engines.

The jatropha oil refined for the test flight comes from seeds grown on environmentally sustainable farms in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and India.

The jatropha plant as we know produces seeds that contain inedible lipid oil used to produce fuel. This can be grown on dry, wastelands, we have been told.

The recent furore has been over the prices of food grains being pushed up as biofuel crops (like corn) were harvested for fuel overlooking their food value. However unlike corn which is an edible crop, jatropha is not. Yet, there are mixed signals out there.

Proponents claim the yield can be as high as 2 ton per acre while those on the ground say it is less than 1 ton per hectare! The oil content too has been contested as lying anywhere between 40 to 20 percent.

Unlike what it is brandished as, jatropha is not a wasteland crop, say many. It needs water, warm climate, soil with good drainage, right pruning to increase yield.

Since only one crop can be harvested in a year, it may after all not be so economical for the farmer. Given rising labour costs and unavailability, picking seeds becomes a task.

Perhaps it is best to grow these biofuel crops as fence crops? Or is it better to go for local versions like Honge?

Let us hear from you, folks.

PS: We just heard someone has already flown on biofuel. Green Flight International President and CEO Douglas Rodante and Chief Pilot Carol Sugars became the first flight crew to successfully cross the U.S. this month in a jet powered predominantly on environmentally-friendly Biofuel.