Lufthansa first airline to use Biofuel on passenger flights
There have been quite a few airlines testing out different biofuels, but none that have run biofuels on a long-term basis during scheduled passenger service. Starting in April 2011, Lufthansa will start a six month trial using an Airbus A321 on scheduled flights between Hamburg and Frankfurt using biofuel.
Only one of the A321′s engines will be using a 50-50 mix of biofuel and normal aviation fuel. They hope to use this six months to see how the use of biofuel will affect maintenance and engine life. The A321 will have a unique set up since it will only fly this route and only be fueled in Hamburg. Normally aircraft are used on different routes and can be fueled at almost any airport.
During the six month trial, Lufthansa expects to save about 1,500 tons of CO2 emissions. “Lufthansa will be the world’s first airline to utilize biofuel in flight operations within the framework of a long-term trial. This is a further consistent step in a proven sustainability strategy, which Lufthansa has for many years successfully pursued and implemented,” said Lufthansa Chief Wolfgang Mayrhuber.
This project, that Lufthansa is calling “burnFAIR,” is being funded in part by the German government. The government is investing about $3.3 million (2.5 million Euros) into the project, where Lufthansa is investing about $8.7 million (6.6 million Euros). The goal is to find a viable alternative to standard aviation fuel that can power airlines around the world with less emissions and be sustainable.
The use of biofuel is one element in a four-pillar strategy aimed at reducing overall emissions in air traffic at Lufthansa. Environmental goals can only be achieved in the future with a combination of various measures, like ongoing fleet renewal, operational measures such as engine washing and infrastructural improvements. Cheers to Lufthansa taking this next step, I will be very interested to see how it works out.
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About Biofuels
Researchers at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology in Stuttgart are developing new fuels for the aviation industry. By 2030, for instance, oil-based kerosene could be replaced by fuels produced entirely from biomass. At the same time, the liquids are to be so tailored to combustion in aircraft engines, that they reliably supply more performance at lower levels of emissions and soot.
On the path towards the optimal, as climate neutral as possible designer kerosene, the team of approximately 20 researchers around Institute Director Professor Dr. Manfred Aigner uses test stands such as a high pressure burner or a so-called shock tube. The experiments are accompanied by computer models to coherently simulate the entire reaction sequence during a combustion process. “We can influence up to 50 different parameters such as, for example, ignitability, in order to obtain a fuel that is better than the kerosene licensed these days”, says Aigner. The basis for synthetic fuels is the “Fischer-Tropsch synthesis” invented already in the 1920s in Germany. With this method, natural gas (GtL: gas to liquid) initially can be converted into synthesis gas by adding oxygen and water vapour and in a next step into liquid carbon hydrides. Instead of natural gas, one can also use coal (CtL: coal to liquid) or biomass (BtL: biomass to liquid) as a substitute for oil. The work of the Stuttgart researchers is followed internationally with great interest. Currently, they are working on a plan for alternative fuels together with partners in the EU project ALFA-BIRD. In addition, there are numerous cooperations with, amongst others, Shell, Rolls-Royce and the technology centre Qatar Science & Technology Park.
On the path towards the optimal, as climate neutral as possible designer kerosene, the team of approximately 20 researchers around Institute Director Professor Dr. Manfred Aigner uses test stands such as a high pressure burner or a so-called shock tube. The experiments are accompanied by computer models to coherently simulate the entire reaction sequence during a combustion process. “We can influence up to 50 different parameters such as, for example, ignitability, in order to obtain a fuel that is better than the kerosene licensed these days”, says Aigner. The basis for synthetic fuels is the “Fischer-Tropsch synthesis” invented already in the 1920s in Germany. With this method, natural gas (GtL: gas to liquid) initially can be converted into synthesis gas by adding oxygen and water vapour and in a next step into liquid carbon hydrides. Instead of natural gas, one can also use coal (CtL: coal to liquid) or biomass (BtL: biomass to liquid) as a substitute for oil. The work of the Stuttgart researchers is followed internationally with great interest. Currently, they are working on a plan for alternative fuels together with partners in the EU project ALFA-BIRD. In addition, there are numerous cooperations with, amongst others, Shell, Rolls-Royce and the technology centre Qatar Science & Technology Park.
