Airbus A380 Completes Flight Powered by Cooking Oil
upstart writes:
Airbus A380 Completes Flight Powered By Cooking Oil:
Fossil fuels are making news for all the wrong reasons of late. Whether it's their contribution to global climate change or the fact that the price and supply hinges on violent geopolitics, there are more reasons than ever to shift to cleaner energy sources.
In the world of aviation, that means finding a cleaner source of fuel. A test earlier this year took place in pursuit of that very goal, where an Airbus A380 airliner was flown solely on fuel derived from cooking oil.
[...] The fuel supplied for the test came from French company TotalEnergies. The specific type of SAF fuel used is known as HEFA-SPK, or Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids - Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene. It's made by chemical treatment of waste cooking oils and fats, which processes it into a usable substitute for kerosene-type jet fuels.
They're not the only company working in this space, either. Where Airbus elected to run just one engine on SAF, others are going further. Swedish SAF supplier Neste recently completed a test in partnership with ATR and Braathens Regional Airlines. The successful test ran both engines of a ATR 72-600 small regional airliner on SAF. It builds on several prior tests on single engines, and the companies hope to get certified for 100% SAF use by 2025.
There needs to be more sustainable fuel options, but do you think the economics of this could ever work out, or is this just some startup company PR and perhaps a bit of Airbus greenwashing thrown in?
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.