Post by nzompilot on Jun 28, 2008 10:53:16 GMT 12
Air NZ sees biofuel on horizon
By ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH - The Press | Saturday, 28 June 2008
Air New Zealand's chief pilot, Captain David Morgan, looks agog at the large porcelain coffee mug the air hostess has placed in front of him.
He lifts the empty vessel to feel its weight in case it is made from space-age light material.
It isn't. In a world where airlines are striving to take as much weight as possible out of their planes to save fuel and the environment, American Airlines on this five-hour flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles appears to have work to do.
A kilogram of weight costs about $500 a year in fuel to carry, Morgan says.
The catering on Air NZ's Boeing 747-400 for a long-haul flight weighs in at five tonnes, hence the plastic cups in economy. Less weight equals less fuel burn and lower carbon emissions.
Air NZ is striving to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline by operating a new fleet of aircraft, flying on a blend of biofuel and modifying some of its jets to improve fuel efficiency.
That is good for profits and marketing to increasingly environmentally conscious tourists concerned about the impact of flying halfway round the world for a holiday.
Airlines around the world are being crippled by record fuel costs, which have more than doubled in the last year to peak at $US173 a barrel.
By the end of last year fuel accounted for about 30 per cent of Air NZ's total costs, but sharp increases this year have forced it to raise fares and downgrade its profit expectations from $268 million before tax last year to $200m for the year to June 30.
Air NZ has already ordered its pilots to fly a little slower and glide down to the runway at some airports to save fuel.
Once parked at the gate the use of ground-based power and air conditioning rather than the onboard auxiliary power unit saves about 800 litres of fuel an hour.
The record cost of fuel "is making these projects even more imperative", Morgan says. "It is critical not only from the green aspects of it, but it is just so critical that we do everything we can also to mitigate our exposure to the cost of fuel, which is just quite extraordinary."
Over the last three years fuel use has reduced by 36 million litres a year, worth $43m and resulting in nearly 125,000 tonnes less in carbon emissions.
But this is a mere drop in the troposphere compared with the 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide Air NZ pumps into the atmosphere a year, making it New Zealand's biggest polluter as an entity.
A step change is expected by 2013, when at least 10% of the airline's total fuel requirements will come from biofuel, reducing its carbon footprint by another 400,000 tonnes a year.
In the meantime most of the big jets in the fleet will be fitted with aerodynamic enhancements to make them more fuel efficient.
On the eight new Boeing 777-200ERs, the row of little fins on top of the wings that help airflow will be made smaller, new computer software will adjust control surfaces to optimise the aerodynamic shape of the wing, and the air intakes on the fuselage under the wings will be modified to reduce drag.
Those changes should make the 777s about 1.5 per cent more fuel efficient, saving more than 1200 litres of fuel on a flight from Vancouver to Auckland.
The wings on the older 767-300 fleet are also likely be modified with fuel-saving blended winglets, which give the aircraft a futuristic look, similar to the new generation 737-800s flown by competitor Pacific Blue.
Further opportunities to reduce weight on board aircraft are also being assessed, from the amount of drinking water carried to the cutlery.
Dehumidifiers will even be installed on board most of the jet fleet to remove more than 200 kilogrammes of water that is absorbed permanently by insulating blankets that line the fuselage.
And the all new 787-9 Dreamliners are due to start arriving in 2012, with their 20 per cent more fuel-efficient engines. "But the big prize is going to be in the area of sustainable biofuel," Morgan says.
Air NZ will test fly a jet fuel refined from the nut of the jatropha tree later this year in a joint venture with Boeing and engine maker Rolls Royce.
Within five years biofuel will make up at least one million barrels of the nine million barrels the airline uses a year.
Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe says second-generation biofuels like jatropha are resulting in "a step change sooner than many people realise".
Biofuels produce the same amount of carbon emissions as kerosene-based fuel, but the 125,000ha jatropha tree plantations in East Africa and India, where the beans are harvested, will absorb the equivalent of about half the biofuel emissions.
Jatropha is considered the best option to provide commercial volumes of fuel because of its high oil content and its ability to grow readily on non-arable land, where it does not compete with food crops.
Morgan says jet fuel from jatropha oil performs as well and in some cases better than current fuel, and aircraft do not need to be modified to use it. The two fuels can also be readily blended.
Only a few years ago biofuels were regarded as unviable for aviation because they froze at the extremely low temperatures encountered at cruise altitudes.
Testing has shown that jatropha has an even lower freezing point than current jet fuel.
Jatropha fuel will also be at least 20 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper than the present price for jet fuel, which reached a record $US174 a barrel last week, or $US139 for a barrel of oil.
The economics still stack up if the price of crude oil falls back to a long-term average of $US70 to $US80 a barrel, as many in the industry expect it eventually will.
Air NZ wants to eventually power its entire fleet on 100 per cent biofuel as it strives to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline.
Morgan says New Zealand relies on a "clean green environment" as its point of difference to foreign tourists.
"The goal for us in the long term is to achieve sustainable air travel to, from, and within New Zealand."
Group strategy manager Abhy Maharaj says the challenge for biofuels is the development of sufficient plantations and production facilities to supply the demand.
Other crops will need to be developed to supply the global fleet with biofuel, he says.
A number of other non-food plants were being trialled.
Algae potentially promises to be the holy grail of biofuel, but is still in the research and development phase.
Maharaj says as biofuel production increases, its cost will decrease, while oil prices long term are likely to continue to trend up even if they fall back from their current peak.
Scientists on a Hawaiian research farm on the outskirts of Honolulu have planted about 1700 trees on 0.6ha to develop jatropha as a commercial crop and maximise the oil yield.
Hawaii Agriculture Research Centre's director of product development, Mel Jackson, says jatropha already has the advantage of being able to grow on the most marginal land. "I could literally break off a branch and stick it in the ground and it would go."
But other uses for the tree will have to be developed to make it a viable crop for farmers.
As a relative of the rubber tree, jatropha's sap has a high latex content that can be processed into natural rubber. And the seed casings could be ground into a meal for cattle, if toxins can be extracted.
The centre is also trying to calculate how much carbon dioxide commercial jatropha plantations will extract from the atmosphere to offset the emissions from burning its oil.
It is likely the trees will offset about half of the carbon emitted from the fuel they produce, Jackson says.
Jatropha is a plant that grows to about three metres and lives for 30 to 50 years. It produces a nut containing oil-rich seeds.
Unlike early biofuels, which were derived from food crops like corn, and displaced arable land, jatropha is a second-generation inedible biofuel crop which can grow on arid and non-arable land.
More than 800 million hectares of non-arable and arid land is suitable for jatropha plantations around the world in a band covering the length of Africa.
It is widely grown in India and the Philippines for use as a biodiesel to run vehicles. The nuts for Air New Zealand's test flight fuel will be harvested in East Africa and India this month.
www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4599878a6034.html
By ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH - The Press | Saturday, 28 June 2008
Air New Zealand's chief pilot, Captain David Morgan, looks agog at the large porcelain coffee mug the air hostess has placed in front of him.
He lifts the empty vessel to feel its weight in case it is made from space-age light material.
It isn't. In a world where airlines are striving to take as much weight as possible out of their planes to save fuel and the environment, American Airlines on this five-hour flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles appears to have work to do.
A kilogram of weight costs about $500 a year in fuel to carry, Morgan says.
The catering on Air NZ's Boeing 747-400 for a long-haul flight weighs in at five tonnes, hence the plastic cups in economy. Less weight equals less fuel burn and lower carbon emissions.
Air NZ is striving to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline by operating a new fleet of aircraft, flying on a blend of biofuel and modifying some of its jets to improve fuel efficiency.
That is good for profits and marketing to increasingly environmentally conscious tourists concerned about the impact of flying halfway round the world for a holiday.
Airlines around the world are being crippled by record fuel costs, which have more than doubled in the last year to peak at $US173 a barrel.
By the end of last year fuel accounted for about 30 per cent of Air NZ's total costs, but sharp increases this year have forced it to raise fares and downgrade its profit expectations from $268 million before tax last year to $200m for the year to June 30.
Air NZ has already ordered its pilots to fly a little slower and glide down to the runway at some airports to save fuel.
Once parked at the gate the use of ground-based power and air conditioning rather than the onboard auxiliary power unit saves about 800 litres of fuel an hour.
The record cost of fuel "is making these projects even more imperative", Morgan says. "It is critical not only from the green aspects of it, but it is just so critical that we do everything we can also to mitigate our exposure to the cost of fuel, which is just quite extraordinary."
Over the last three years fuel use has reduced by 36 million litres a year, worth $43m and resulting in nearly 125,000 tonnes less in carbon emissions.
But this is a mere drop in the troposphere compared with the 3.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide Air NZ pumps into the atmosphere a year, making it New Zealand's biggest polluter as an entity.
A step change is expected by 2013, when at least 10% of the airline's total fuel requirements will come from biofuel, reducing its carbon footprint by another 400,000 tonnes a year.
In the meantime most of the big jets in the fleet will be fitted with aerodynamic enhancements to make them more fuel efficient.
On the eight new Boeing 777-200ERs, the row of little fins on top of the wings that help airflow will be made smaller, new computer software will adjust control surfaces to optimise the aerodynamic shape of the wing, and the air intakes on the fuselage under the wings will be modified to reduce drag.
Those changes should make the 777s about 1.5 per cent more fuel efficient, saving more than 1200 litres of fuel on a flight from Vancouver to Auckland.
The wings on the older 767-300 fleet are also likely be modified with fuel-saving blended winglets, which give the aircraft a futuristic look, similar to the new generation 737-800s flown by competitor Pacific Blue.
Further opportunities to reduce weight on board aircraft are also being assessed, from the amount of drinking water carried to the cutlery.
Dehumidifiers will even be installed on board most of the jet fleet to remove more than 200 kilogrammes of water that is absorbed permanently by insulating blankets that line the fuselage.
And the all new 787-9 Dreamliners are due to start arriving in 2012, with their 20 per cent more fuel-efficient engines. "But the big prize is going to be in the area of sustainable biofuel," Morgan says.
Air NZ will test fly a jet fuel refined from the nut of the jatropha tree later this year in a joint venture with Boeing and engine maker Rolls Royce.
Within five years biofuel will make up at least one million barrels of the nine million barrels the airline uses a year.
Air NZ chief executive Rob Fyfe says second-generation biofuels like jatropha are resulting in "a step change sooner than many people realise".
Biofuels produce the same amount of carbon emissions as kerosene-based fuel, but the 125,000ha jatropha tree plantations in East Africa and India, where the beans are harvested, will absorb the equivalent of about half the biofuel emissions.
Jatropha is considered the best option to provide commercial volumes of fuel because of its high oil content and its ability to grow readily on non-arable land, where it does not compete with food crops.
Morgan says jet fuel from jatropha oil performs as well and in some cases better than current fuel, and aircraft do not need to be modified to use it. The two fuels can also be readily blended.
Only a few years ago biofuels were regarded as unviable for aviation because they froze at the extremely low temperatures encountered at cruise altitudes.
Testing has shown that jatropha has an even lower freezing point than current jet fuel.
Jatropha fuel will also be at least 20 per cent to 30 per cent cheaper than the present price for jet fuel, which reached a record $US174 a barrel last week, or $US139 for a barrel of oil.
The economics still stack up if the price of crude oil falls back to a long-term average of $US70 to $US80 a barrel, as many in the industry expect it eventually will.
Air NZ wants to eventually power its entire fleet on 100 per cent biofuel as it strives to become the world's most environmentally sustainable airline.
Morgan says New Zealand relies on a "clean green environment" as its point of difference to foreign tourists.
"The goal for us in the long term is to achieve sustainable air travel to, from, and within New Zealand."
Group strategy manager Abhy Maharaj says the challenge for biofuels is the development of sufficient plantations and production facilities to supply the demand.
Other crops will need to be developed to supply the global fleet with biofuel, he says.
A number of other non-food plants were being trialled.
Algae potentially promises to be the holy grail of biofuel, but is still in the research and development phase.
Maharaj says as biofuel production increases, its cost will decrease, while oil prices long term are likely to continue to trend up even if they fall back from their current peak.
Scientists on a Hawaiian research farm on the outskirts of Honolulu have planted about 1700 trees on 0.6ha to develop jatropha as a commercial crop and maximise the oil yield.
Hawaii Agriculture Research Centre's director of product development, Mel Jackson, says jatropha already has the advantage of being able to grow on the most marginal land. "I could literally break off a branch and stick it in the ground and it would go."
But other uses for the tree will have to be developed to make it a viable crop for farmers.
As a relative of the rubber tree, jatropha's sap has a high latex content that can be processed into natural rubber. And the seed casings could be ground into a meal for cattle, if toxins can be extracted.
The centre is also trying to calculate how much carbon dioxide commercial jatropha plantations will extract from the atmosphere to offset the emissions from burning its oil.
It is likely the trees will offset about half of the carbon emitted from the fuel they produce, Jackson says.
Jatropha is a plant that grows to about three metres and lives for 30 to 50 years. It produces a nut containing oil-rich seeds.
Unlike early biofuels, which were derived from food crops like corn, and displaced arable land, jatropha is a second-generation inedible biofuel crop which can grow on arid and non-arable land.
More than 800 million hectares of non-arable and arid land is suitable for jatropha plantations around the world in a band covering the length of Africa.
It is widely grown in India and the Philippines for use as a biodiesel to run vehicles. The nuts for Air New Zealand's test flight fuel will be harvested in East Africa and India this month.
www.stuff.co.nz/dominionpost/4599878a6034.html
