Reports of a new $500 million bio-fuels refinery in Gladstone, Queensland will provide, amongst other uses, cleaner fuel for aviation – see link.
So we wanted to know just how much difference this could make to aviation?
What difference would the adoption of bio-fuels make in Australia?
Australia’s National Science Industry findings suggest:
- Aircraft emissions could be reduced by 17%,
- 12,000 jobs could be created
- Australia would reduce the amount of fuel it needed to import by $2 billion dollars.
In the video, an aviation executive said that ‘Sustainable bio-fuels can’t come soon enough – as efficiency using existing fuel can only go so far’.
According to NASA, the most damaging issue can be the exhaust trails that are a familiar sight in the sky. These trails can impact on climate change more than C02.
So, they set about real world testing, using different fuels in each of the four engines in a NASA DC8 – with smaller aircraft following in its wake to examine the trails….see this test flight in action.
What they found was that contrail intensity with bio-fuel blends does reduce sub particle emissions by 50-60%. This means that the use of bio-fuels has got the potential to massively reduce the climate change impact of aviation.
So the new plant in Gladstone could be the foundation for creating a more sustainable future for Australian aviation. We wish them well.