Continental Airline Tests Biofuel

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Global Bioenergy Industry News

Friday, January 09, 2009

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Continental Airline Tests Biofuel

US - Continental Airlines this week tested the use of sustainable biofuel to power a commercial aircraft for the first time ever in North America.

The demonstration flight, which was being conducted in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell's UOP, marks the first sustainable biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier using a two-engine aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 equipped with CFM International CFM56-7B engines.

"This demonstration flight represents another step in Continental's ongoing commitment to fuel efficiency and environmental responsibility," said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Kellner.

"The technical knowledge we gain today will contribute to a wider understanding of the future for transportation fuels."

The biofuel blend includes components derived from algae and jatropha plants, both sustainable, second-generation sources that do not impact food crops or water resources or contribute to deforestation.

The algae oil has been provided by Sapphire Energy, and the jatropha oil by Terasol Energy.

This is the first time a commercial carrier will power a flight using fuel derived in part from algae.

Continental's Boeing 737-800, tail number 516, will depart from and return to Houston's Bush Intercontinental Airport operating under a specially-issued "Experimental" aircraft type certificate, and will carry no passengers.

During the flight, which lasted approximately two hours, Continental test pilots engaged the aircraft in a number of normal and non-normal flight manoeuvres, such as mid-flight engine shutdown and re-start, and power accelerations and decelerations. A Continental engineer recorded flight data onboard.

The flight operated with a biofuel blend of 50 per cent biologically-derived fuel and 50 per cent traditional jet fuel, in the No. 2 engine.

The aircraft's No. 1 engine operated on 100 per cent traditional jet fuel, allowing Continental to compare performance between the biofuel blend and traditional fuel.