Monday, May 18, 2015

Alaska Air Looks to Fly the Commercial Airliners Fueled with Renewable Alcohol Based Jet Fuel.

     Alaska Air has plans to fly a demonstration flight using renewable biofuel made from corn and other plant materials.

     Alaska Air plans to launch a demonstration flight using the clean-burning ‘alcohol to jet’ fuel – made by Gevo, a renewable biofuel company, which is made from by converting corn and other plant waste into isobutanol.   Isobutanol is then processed into jet fuel, which can be a clean replacement for petroleum-based fuels.
     The test flight will happen providing Alaska Air receives approval from the American Society for Testing and Materials, ASTM International, sometime near the end of the year.   Gevo has been doing research based on the guidelines set out by ASTM International for more than six years, they looking for a final approval in order that the fuel be available for standard use on any commercial aircraft.
 
     Alaska Air has been proactively searching for alternative fuels in order to achieve its target to use sustainable biofuel in at least one of the airports by 2020.   The company was the first airline in the US to have flown multiple commercial passenger flights using biofuel created from used cooking oil.
 
Read More at http://www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2015/05/alcohol-jet-fuel-to-power-first-commercial-flight/?article-source=newsletter&source=427&date=2015-05-15

     This is interesting news, maybe more research with sugar cane might yield more places for the use of alcohol to fuel the aviation fleets.  Any renewable fuel is a positive move to power our world instead of a quickly disappearing petroleum fuels.  ;o)