THAI Tests Out Biofuel Flight

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THAI

THAI tests out biofuel flight

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation

Thai Airways flew its first flight in the region yesterday under its biofuel pilot programme. The airline is ready to continue using biofuel for future commercial flights if PTT can supply the fuel at the same price as current jet fuel.

The company is set to be the first airline in Asia to fly a commercial passenger flight using biofuel to support its "Travel Green" initiative as part of its corporate social responsibility programme.

Thai president Piyasvasti Amranand said the company has developed an important project on sustainability to operate a commercial flight using biofuel renewable energy as one way to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions.

Piyasvasti said the airline's decision to use biofuel on its commercial routes will depend on the ability of PTT to domestically produce biofuel at a cost on par with current jet fuel. Importing biofuel for jet engines, which it is doing for this pilot programme, will not be feasible in the long run.

He said the pilot programme's first biofuel flight used a Boeing 777-200 aircraft and flew for 20 minutes.

The airline is also encouraging other carriers in the region to consider using biofuel to reduce their reliance on fossil fuel. The company intends to sustainably promote the production of biofuel for the aviation industry in Thailand and the region.

The plan will be developed in cooperation with other organisations such as oil production companies, research centres, educational institutions and related public and private sector.

To help encourage these organisations to become involved in sustainable biofuel development, the Thai government has indicated they will support this policy to help it succeed.

He said the European Union (EU) has announced that commercial flights that fly through EU countries must use jet fuel with a biomass of 10 per cent starting next year. The company will have to absorb the increased cost of using biofuels. If it does not, the penalties that the EU will charge for non-compliance will be greater than the increased cost of biofuels.

PTT vice president Saran Rangkarisi said that the price of biofuel - Bio Jet A-1 - is seven times greater than normal Jet A-1 fuel that Thai Airways is using now. Plus, it will take PTT 6-7 years to develop and be able to supply this kind of fuel to Thai Airways.

The biofuel that Thai Airways used for its first pilot flight was imported by PTT from Sky NRG of the Netherlands, which is the biggest producer of global biofuel and the supplier to KLM airlines and others such as Finnair. PTT imported eight tonnes of biofuel at a cost of Bt 2.5 million. Biofuel is a mixture of biojet and normal Jet A-1 in a 50-50 proportion. PTT verified the quality of the imported fuel and it met the international standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials or ASTM D1655.

Ralph L Boyce, president of Boeing Southeast Asia, said that this pilot flight by Thai Airways marks the beginning of sustainable development of biofuel flights that is being taken seriously by aircraft manufacturers, fuel researchers, educational institutes and related state organisations in air transportation and alternative energy.

Biofuel flights are vital for the airline industry and Boeing is committed to allocating significant resources to work with researchers and leading industries to speed up introduction of sustainable biofuel flights, Boyce said.

-- The Nation 2011-12-22

[haveaniceday]

This article is full of errors.

[whybother]

This article is full of errors.

No hints?

[RickBradford]

PTT vice president Saran Rangkarisi said that the price of biofuel - Bio Jet A-1 - is seven times greater than normal Jet A-1 fuel that Thai Airways is using now.

And that's just one of the problems.

* The US National Academy of Sciences recently called biofuels extremely damaging from an environmental as well as economic perspective:

"“This report highlights the severe damage to the environment from corn-based ethanol. It underscores just how misguided U.S. biofuels policy has become. It catalogs the environmentally damaging aspects of corn-based ethanol and also casts serious doubt on the future viability of so-called ‘advanced’ biofuels made from other sources.”

It says advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are unlikely to prove practical substitutes for either corn ethanol or fossil fuels.

And because bio-fuel production is basically industrial agriculture, it sustains all the problems of that industry, according to a report in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, who reviewed..

"...the hazards imposed by all 784 pesticides currently registered for use on biofuel crops in Brazil," and in doing so, they say they detected compounds that have been "suspended by international conventions," as well as compounds that are included in databases and lists of priority concern that are "highly toxic in acute exposure, neurotoxic, probable or known carcinogens, known groundwater contaminants, and/or of known reproductive or developmental toxicity," some of which exhibit "endocrine-disrupting effects in humans and wildlife."

In short, biofuels are a mess, and mandating them for flights is a silly EU Green fantasy which will soon collide with reality, with the usual tiresome and expensive results.

[xthAi76s]

Aren't biofuels expense as well? Like 4 times pricier than oil?

Also, are the engines and such rated for this? Are other airlines doing this or only THAI?

[ttl]

^{Just might be an idea if Thai Airways spoke to Air New Zealand,who are, as I understand it, the leaders in aircraft biofuel use.}

[tigermonkey]

PTT vice president Saran Rangkarisi said that the price of biofuel - Bio Jet A-1 - is seven times greater than normal Jet A-1 fuel that Thai Airways is using now.

And that's just one of the problems.

* The US National Academy of Sciences recently called biofuels extremely damaging from an environmental as well as economic perspective:

"“This report highlights the severe damage to the environment from corn-based ethanol. It underscores just how misguided U.S. biofuels policy has become. It catalogs the environmentally damaging aspects of corn-based ethanol and also casts serious doubt on the future viability of so-called ‘advanced’ biofuels made from other sources.”

It says advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol are unlikely to prove practical substitutes for either corn ethanol or fossil fuels.

And because bio-fuel production is basically industrial agriculture, it sustains all the problems of that industry, according to a report in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, who reviewed..

"...the hazards imposed by all 784 pesticides currently registered for use on biofuel crops in Brazil," and in doing so, they say they detected compounds that have been "suspended by international conventions," as well as compounds that are included in databases and lists of priority concern that are "highly toxic in acute exposure, neurotoxic, probable or known carcinogens, known groundwater contaminants, and/or of known reproductive or developmental toxicity," some of which exhibit "endocrine-disrupting effects in humans and wildlife."

In short, biofuels are a mess, and mandating them for flights is a silly EU Green fantasy which will soon collide with reality, with the usual tiresome and expensive results.

The EU has many "silly" fantasies, which all seem to be driven by the politics of power and greed. I presume that Biojet is being made with ethanol from feedstock at present, although Biojet does not reveal this in any of their material. Ethanol is rapidly losing favor in the scientific community, and if it weren't being politically driven, it would soon be gone. Ethanol is corrosive, has a low energy return, and a high vaporization point, on top of its massive cost.

What modifications did THAI need to make to the 777 before the test flight ? What is the reduction in the range of the 777 using this fuel.? -- and many more questions.

Butanol seems to the alternate fuel of the immediate future since it has few of the problems of ethanol, and is chemically much more similar to fossil based fuels. Many ethanol production facilities are presently being converted from ethanol to butanol. When they finally conquer making butanol from from algae and waste biomass, especilly waste wood, we might actually have something. For now, the problems are not being solved, but compounded.

Edited December 22, 2011 by tigermonkey

[tlansford]

biofuels only make sense if actually generated from existing by-product.

The EU directives have the very environmentally unfriendly result of growing crops just to support biofuel demand which is a net increase in CO2 and not good environmental policy.

I would love to see the EU get its act together and stop with this kind of nonsense. There are things to do which make sense, blanket dictates on the use of biofuels is not one of them.

[Mitker]

In the future, when we'll run out of fossil fuels, multiple sources of energy will have to replace them.

But so far, biofuels are the only ones that suit aviation current technical constraints. It makes sense to prepare for this even if the problem has to be envisioned globally.

[jackinthebox]

In brief: PTT imported eight tonnes of biofuel at a cost of Bt 2.5 million (about 250 Baht per Litre...!)

[Spee]

Every time I see biofuel, all I can think of is "What a scamming crock of bs." It costs more energy to produce than it provides in return. It costs far more than traditional petroleum-based jet fuel.

Not to politicize the thread, but biofuel is a political agenda, not an economic solution, as demonstrated by example here:

http://news.investors.com/Article/594703/201112131858/navy-biofuel-gate-latest-obama-green-scam.htm

I would much rather see Thai Airways focus on other areas: profitability, customer service, equipment improvements, etc.