Up to 1.4 tonnes of fuel can be saved on a twelve-hour long haul flight powered by a 50/50 blend of second generation jatropha sustainable biofuel and traditional Jet A1, according to test flight results released by AIr New Zealand. The result is one of the key findings from the company's Boeing 747-400 Rolls-Royce powered test flight in December last year.

The results of the test were unveilled at the Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington yesterday (28th May) by Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand's General Manager Airline Operations and Chief Pilot. He went on to say that the scientific findings were significant for the aviation industry, which stands at the earliest stages of sustainable fuel development.

"Certainly the data from our biofuel test flight will be a critical component towards helping biofuel become a certified aviation fuel," he says. "There is a great deal to be done by the industry as a whole and Air New Zealand will continue to lend its support.

"We currently have a team looking at several different biofuel options. We remain committed to our ambition of having 10% of our fuel needs by 2013 met by alternative fuels, but appreciate there are many more steps to be taken by experts in other areas to deliver biofuel as a commercial aviation fuel source," he says.

A report prepared by Air New Zealand, Boeing and Rolls-Royce to analyse the data collected throughout the flight says the biofuel selected has demonstrated the potential for use as a drop in replacement to Jet A1 at a blend ratio of up to 50:50. This material now needs to be submitted to the rigorous industry evaluation and approval protocol to enable it to be certified for everyday use.

The report also found that the biofuel's properties offer some performance improvements over Jet A1 due to its higher net heat of combustion including:

    * Using this biofuel blend, the fuel burn for a Boeing 747-400 aircraft twelve-hour flight (5800 nautical miles) would improve by 1.2 %, saving 1.43 tonnes of fuel.
* Such a reduction in fuel burn would result in a significant reduction in carbon emissions, saving approximately 4.5 tonnes of CO2.
* At shorter ranges, fuel burn will improve by 1% when using a mix of 50% biofuel to 50 % Jet A1. Overall savings due to these hydrotreated bio-derived jet fuels from naturally occurring oils is estimated to be a 60-65% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions relative to petroleum-derived jet fuel.

The report should give those drafting fuel certification regulations more confidence to push ahead and reduce the timeline for certification of a bio-derived drop-in jet fuel to occur.

Data from this evaluation flight program will be published to various industry bodies to contribute to the current program evaluating this and similar fuel products with a view to achieving approval of them as alternatives to existing Jet A1.