Qantas uses 150 acres of mustard seeds to power 15 hour biofuel flight

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

The world's first US-Australia biofuel flight successfully completed its first journey today powered by fuel made from mustard seeds.

The Qantas QF96 plane completed a 15-hour trans-Pacific flight using 24,000 litres of biofuel blend.

Qantas estimates the plane saved around 18,000kg in carbon emissions during the flight.

But while it lowered emissions in the air, the biofuel used to power the single journey took up 150 acres of land to create - an area bigger than the Vatican City.

The QF96 flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne used fuel developed by Canadian agricultural-technology company Agrisoma Biosciences.

The carinata seed used in the latest flight makes high-quality oil with one hectare of seeds (2.47 acres) producing 400 litres of biofuel, writes Traveller.

Within just one day after harvesting the oil can be pressed and used as fuel




HOW HAS BIOFUEL BEEN USED IN PLANES?

In 2008 Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to power a commercial flight using biofuel.

The flight, between London's Heathrow and Amsterdam, used a fuel made from a mixture of Brazilian babassu nuts and coconuts which provided 20 per cent of the engine's power.

'This pioneering flight will enable those of us who are serious about reducing our carbon emissions to go on developing the fuels of the future,' said CEO Richard Branson at the time.

many airlines are now looking into incorporate biofuels on commercial flights.

In 2011, Alaska Airlines operated 75 flights on a cooking oil blend.

In 2014, a Finnish airline used a mix of recycled cooking oil and jet fuel to power a long-distance flight.

Finnair said it will be able to reduce its net carbon dioxide emission by 50 to 80 per cent by switching to a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly fuel source.

But biofuel is more than twice the price of conventionally produced jet fuel and it is too costly for any airline to operate with it exclusively.

In 2017 a Chinese airline boss flew 186 passengers and 15 crew members from Beijing to Chicago with the help of recycled cooking oil.

Sun Jianfeng, the President of China's largest private air carrier Hainan Airlines, was the captain of the 11-hour flight which flew across the Pacific on November 21.

Last year, Singapore Airlines also launched their first-ever flight powered by cooking oil.

The aircraft was powered by a combination of hydro-processed esters and fatty acids - a sustainable biofuel produced from used cooking oils - and conventional jet fuel.

By 2020 Qantas aims to have biofuel-based flights running regularly.

 

[lexluthermiester]

While the intentions are admirable, the long-term sustainability & practicality is dubious at best. There simply isn't enough room on the planet to grow enough bio-material to fuel even 1/4 of the worlds aircraft. The better solution is to find more powerful fuel chemistries & blending techniques, developing stronger & lighter fuselage materials and design more efficient engines.

 

[Beertintedgoggles]

While the intentions are admirable, the long-term sustainability & practicality is dubious at best. There simply isn't enough room on the planet to grow enough bio-material to fuel even 1/4 of the worlds aircraft. The better solution is to find more powerful fuel chemistries & blending techniques, developing stronger & lighter fuselage materials and design more efficient engines.

Don't forget some of the more unpopular ideas to increase efficiency...... decrease the number of flights so that each flight is more completely booked in addition to cramming as many of us in there as possible. Maybe have an entire pool of passengers that "register" in the morning and you keep filling flights to their destination until finally there is a flight that wouldn't be filled, then those unlucky leftovers get to wait until the next day and get priority on the first flight out in the morning. The customers would hate it but it would add to less energy wasted.

 

[RCoon]

While the intentions are admirable, the long-term sustainability & practicality is dubious at best. There simply isn't enough room on the planet to grow enough bio-material to fuel even 1/4 of the worlds aircraft. The better solution is to find more powerful fuel chemistries & blending techniques, developing stronger & lighter fuselage materials and design more efficient engines.

To quote some numbers from another site running this article:

Some BoE numbers. Quick Google says that in 2012 (first result) the aviation industry consumed about 5000 barrels of fuel per day, or around 800,000 litres. That's roughly 300,000,000 litres a year. To displace 10% of that we'd need to plant 75,000 ha a year to mustard seed.

Hmm. Now that I look at the numbers, that's not actually too bad. I thought it would be much worse.

Approximate land area being farmed in Kansas, USA: 74489 sq miles

75,000 ha of mustard seed = 289.5 sq miles

 

[lexluthermiester]

Don't forget some of the more unpopular ideas to increase efficiency...... decrease the number of flights so that each flight is more completely booked in addition to cramming as many of us in there as possible. Maybe have an entire pool of passengers that "register" in the morning and you keep filling flights to their destination until finally there is a flight that wouldn't be filled, then those unlucky leftovers get to wait until the next day and get priority on the first flight out in the morning. The customers would hate it but it would add to less energy wasted.

Interesting. It's easy to see how problems might develop, but there is merit to those ideas.

Quick Google says that in 2012 (first result) the aviation industry consumed about 5000 barrels of fuel per day, or around 800,000 litres.

That isn't even close. Excluding aircraft with a seating load smaller that 100, on average in any one moment there are over 3000 aircraft in the air world-wide with over 7000 flights per given 24 hour period. Each aircraft on average carries between 35000 and 65000 liters, depending on the aircraft, and uses much of that on any given flight. So those numbers simply don't add up. However, mustard plants are very hardy and could be cultivated in desert areas with the right methodologies employed. Anything is possible, but again, how practical is it?

 

[remixedcat]

biofuels are wastes of land and soil nutirents that can be used to grow food. bio fuels are very unsistainable and are just for "philantropists" to stroke their egos. best to use nuclear

 

[FordGT90Concept]

USA is vastly overproducing corn so transition some of the FAA incentives to produce corn to produce mustard seeds instead.

The problem is that I think it was 150 acres of mustard seeds just for this *one* flight. Crops only get harvested once per year (I think). So unless you're planning to fly that aircraft only once per year, it's not enough.

This one is a particularly long flight at 15 hours. Let's say it's made every 3 days so 360 / 3 = 120 flights made in a year which means 18,000 acres to service that one aircraft. There's 640 acres per square mile so you'd need over 28 square miles worth of mustard fields.

 

[silentbogo]

USA is vastly overproducing corn so transition some of the FAA incentives to produce corn to produce mustard seeds instead. I doubt it's a huge problem.

Lol. I remember this one.
There are few reasons why US is overproducing corn, and all are related to government and free money.
Basically some time ago, when the whole "green energy" thing took off on a massive scale, US govt. started pouring tons of money into ridiculous stuff, like growing more corn for ethanol/biofuel production, wind farms in inappropriate places, "creative" energy storage tech and other ridiculous stuff. Even though the whole thing ended up being a flop, like Obama's investment into domestic solar panel production (see Suniva and SolarWorld), those fields are still growing corn and getting cash from deep federal pocket cause politicians are slow and forgetful.
Found this brief article, if you are interested:
https://www.taxpayer.net/energy-nat...l-subsidies-corn-ethanol-corn-based-biofuels/

 

[FordGT90Concept]

It's not a "flop." The crop insurance (which is biased towards corn) is to protect farmers from bad years. It is keeping farms afloat and the food supply secure but it has become mismanaged because it over-incentivizes the production of corn since other crops are considered risky. It needs tweaking to diversify what is grown and secure a broader range of crops.

 

[the54thvoid]

biofuels are wastes of land and soil nutirents that can be used to grow food. bio fuels are very unsistainable and are just for "philantropists" to stroke their egos. best to use nuclear

You need a transportable fuel. A nuclear reactor on a plane doesn't really work.

Nuclear is the best short term solution for global energy but plants take years to create, billions to construct and the waste produced takes literally tens of thousands of years to become non-hazardous. If only we had Japanese style super monsters that could eat radiation. Where's Mothra?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

NASA is building a micro fission reactor for use in space. It is possible that such a reactor could fit on, say, a train engine.