The Boeing 747 flew from London to Amsterdam powered by fuel from Imperium Biofuels.
The U.K.'s Virgin Atlantic completed the world's first biofuel-powered test flight of a commercial aircraft, taking off from London and landing in Amsterdam.
The biofuel, a 20 percent mix of coconut and babassu oil, came all the way from Seattle's Imperium Renewables.
There were no passengers on the short flight.
The test flight was part of a joint initiative by Virgin Atlantic, Chicago planemaker Boeing (NYSE: BA), Cincinnati engine manufacturer GE Aviation, and biofuel producer Imperium Renewables to work on renewable fuel sources for aviation.
"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, fuels which will power our aircraft in the years ahead through sustainable next-generation oils, such as algae," said Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic.
Imperium Renewables has already teamed up with San Francisco's Solazyme to work on algae-based fuel (see Solazyme to supply algae oil to Imperium).
Virgin Atlantic said the biofuel used in the test flight was made from feedstocks that do not compete with staple food sources and that the babassu nuts and coconuts were harvested from existing, mature plantations.
The airline said no modifications were made to the aircraft or its engines for the biofuel flight.
The companies said the results of the flight would be analyzed and used for research and development of next-generation biofuels.
Boeing plans to use the findings from this flight in another demonstration flight later this year.
print
delicious
digg
hugg
reprint
Post new comment