The primary transatlantic passenger flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation gas (SAF) was accomplished on Tuesday 28 November by Virgin Atlantic, with the journey hailed as a milestone in assessing the viability of the putative inexperienced propellant.
Flight100’s journey from Heathrow to New York was undertaken with the approval of aviation authorities from the UK, Eire, Canada and the US, and was credited by Transport Secretary Mark Harper as exhibiting “how we are able to each decarbonise transport and allow passengers to maintain flying when and the place they need.”
SAF appears extensively seen as probably the most promising avenue for decarbonising long-haul aviation at current, however key issues stay: Notably, an enormous shortfall in its availability (with solely 0.1% of world demand for aviation gas at the moment met by SAF).
Sir Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Atlantic, who was on-board, mentioned: “The world will all the time assume one thing can’t be finished, till you do it. The spirit of innovation is getting on the market and making an attempt to show that we are able to do issues higher for everybody’s profit.”
Presently, plane are solely allowed to run on a 50:50 mix of SAF and traditional jet gas, and take a look at flights akin to this one purpose to safe investor confidence and make the case for scaling-up manufacturing.
Flight100 concerned a Boeing 787 Dreamliner geared up with two Rolls-Royce engines working on SAF based mostly on “a novel twin mix”, combining round 88% HEFA (Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids), created from waste fat, and 12% SAK (Artificial Fragrant Kerosene), created from plant sugars. Plant proteins, oil and fibres additionally constituted a portion of the gas.
A earlier trial flight utilizing 100% SAF on a industrial airliner crossed the Mediterranean in April 2021, with each engines of an Airbus A350 working on HEFA.
For fuels that rely upon waste supplies akin to animal fat (i.e., these deemed unfit for human consumption), akin to used on this newest flight, there are mentioned to be questions surrounding whether or not the stuff actually is sustainable.
Shai Weiss, Chief Government Officer, Virgin Atlantic mentioned: “Flight100 proves that Sustainable Aviation Gas can be utilized as a secure, drop-in substitute for fossil-derived jet gas and it’s the one viable answer for decarbonising lengthy haul aviation. It’s taken radical collaboration to get right here and we’re proud to have reached this necessary milestone, however we have to push additional.
“There’s merely not sufficient SAF and it’s clear that with the intention to attain manufacturing at scale, we have to see considerably extra funding. This may solely occur when regulatory certainty and worth help mechanisms, backed by Authorities, are in place. Flight100 proves that in case you make it, we’ll fly it.”
A internet zero aviation business is a declared objective of the sector, and plenty of completely different propellant applied sciences are doable candidates, with SAF seemingly probably the most promising, and others akin to hydrogen and electrical energy mentioned to be “many years away”, as Virgin Atlantic’s assertion put it. Throughout the class of SAF itself, approaches appear divided between biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, notably efuels created utilizing assets akin to captured carbon, inexperienced hydrogen and renewable vitality.
The Virgin Atlantic flight additionally aimed to evaluate the influence of the fuels on non-carbon emissions, akin to contrails and particulates, with the assistance of consortium companions ICF, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), Imperial School London and College of Sheffield.
