Why biofuels are the future of civil and military aviation

Biofuel is a fuel made fromplant or animal raw materials, organic waste and waste products of organisms. The list of biofuel products is included as usual for us, such as firewood and straw, and the newly invented, such as synthesis gas and biodiesel. In recent years, scientists around the world have been trying to find ways to develop a cheap way to produce low carbon fuels, which in the long run can replace refined products. Moreover, the aviation industry is taking the main steps in this direction.

Recently, for example, the airline Etihad Airwaysmade the first commercial flight of an aircraft operating on biofuel — for this purpose, salt-based biofuel was used (plants from the coastal marine strip with a high salt concentration in the soil). In other words, kerosene was simply diluted with a biofuel in the ratio of 50 to 50 - the plane cannot fly on biofuel alone.

Following the UAE, the Netherlands announced their plans. The country's defense ministry said it wanted to transfer all the country's military aviation to fly biofuel. At first, all military aircraft will fly with a 20 percent addition of biofuels, but over time, its content will be increased to 70%.

In 2018, the Netherlands has already conducted a test, inDuring which a fighter flew for two weeks on a mixture with a 5 percent content of biofuels. Already, all the F-16s assigned to the airbase in Leeuwarden are flying with the same fuel ratio.

It looks like biofuel will first getdistribution mainly in civil aviation, and there the military will "tighten up". Last year, for example, the airline Qantas reported that its plane made an intercontinental flight from the USA to Australia on fuel, partly consisting of mustard. For the flight, mixed fuel was used, 90 percent consisting of ordinary aviation kerosene, and the remaining ten percent was ordinary mustard oil.

Do Russian airlines plan at leastPartially use biofuel for commercial flights in the near future? The press service of S7 Group, the editorial staff of Hi-News, said that the airline has no such plans yet. PJSC "Aeroflot" did not provide an operational comment on this issue. It seems that at first Asian and European airlines should show the economic efficiency and benefits of using a new type of fuel.

The ubiquitous use of mixed fuels will help reduce emissions of CO2 to the atmosphere by a third, and, therefore, will act as one of the tools in the fight against global warming.