Algae Biofuel May Be Future For Aviation

The aviation industry may one day be powered by algae. Manufacturing giant Boeing says that a biodiesel alternative made from algae could be the aircraft biofuel of the future.

Last month, in an 8-page document plainly titled “Alternative Fuels for Commercial Aircraft”, Boeing presented their estimation of the alternative fuel sources that could ‘relieve worldwide pressure on crude-oil derived fuels’ and drive air travel to carbon neutrality.
The biofuel debate has largely glossed over the ‘friendly skies’ while high fuel prices continue to take their toll on the industry. No biofuel we have yet can step up to the plate. Ethanol collects water and corrodes the engine and lines while biodiesel freezes up in cold weather (ie: cruising altitude). Don’t forget pilots’ general resistance to change and a life and death dependency on reliable fuel, and aviation biofuels don’t have a leg to stand on.

“There are a lot of questions to be answered and one of them, frankly, that has been answered so far is that ethanol is probably not suitable for airplanes,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes environmental strategy managing director Bill Glover said during a Star Alliance conference in Copenhagen.
“That would require changes to the airplane – (ethanol) doesn’t have the energy content and it has some other properties that are incompatible with the systems in the airplane.
“But we can, it looks like, develop something that is more like a biodiesel that has some promise.”

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