Air New Zealand successfully test-flies Boeing 747-400 jet with biofuel in one engine

Air New Zealand, the national flag carrier of New Zealand, has successfully conducted the world’s first commercial aviation test flight using fuel from the seeds of the African jatropha plant.

One of the Rolls-Royce engines of Air New Zealand’s Boeing 747-400 jumbo jet was powered by a blend of 50-50 jatropha and Jet A1 fuel in its two-hour flight from Auckland.

Engine No. 1 of the Boeing jet that departed from Auckland International Airport was fuelled by a 50-50 mixture of standard Jet A1 fuel – which is effectively kerosene – and synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from jatropha oil, which comes from a shrub that grows in tropical and subtropical areas and is largely used as a hedge plant.

Air New Zealand said it used the biofuel as a part of the efforts by the global aviation industry to reduce carbon emissions.

Air New Zealand, based in Auckland, New Zealand, has its focus on Australasia and the South Pacific and also operates services to Europe, North America and Asia. It is a member of the Star Alliance and its main hub is Auckland Airport.

Rob Fyfe, chief executive of Air New Zealand, was quoted by the media as declaring after the Jumbo jet’s two-hour flight from Auckland: “It is Air New Zealand’s long-term goal to become the world’s most environmentally sustainable airline and we have made further significant progress towards this.”

Captain David Morgan, Air New Zealand’s chief pilot, told reporters after completing the flight that information obtained during the flight would be reviewed with Boeing and Rolls-Royce, as a part of a drive to have jatropha certified as an aviation fuel. “We stand at the earliest stages of sustainable fuel development and it is exciting to be a part of this important moment in aviation history,” he added.

“We accomplished everything we set out to do,” Captain David Morgan said in an interview after the flight. “It was a very successful test flight, and jatropha is a reliable second-generation biofuel going forward. The flight went without incident, which is additional evidence for sustainable sources of oil being used by an industry that produces up to 12% of greenhouse-gas emissions.”

Captain Morgan said he took the Boeing 747-400 jet up to 35,000 feet in order to test acceleration and to see if friction of the fuel slows down its flow to the engine. “The engine was shut down twice in descent, then restarted. It was shut down and restarted again while taxiing on the tarmac,” he explained.

The test flight using jatropha fuel, conducted over the Hauraki Gulf of the North Island of New Zealand, was a joint effort between Air New Zealand, Boeing, Rolls-Royce and UOP, a Honeywell refining technology company.

A statement from Air New Zealand said the jatropha oil used for the experimental flight came from seeds grown on environmentally sustainable farms in Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and India. The airline described jatropha as “a sustainable second-generation biofuel” and said that over a dozen key performance tests were undertaken during the flight.

The jatropha plant grows up to about 3 metres high and produces seeds that contain inedible lipid oil that is used to produce fuel. The plant can be grown in a variety of difficult conditions, including arid and otherwise non-arable areas – thus rendering prime farming areas available for cultivating food crops.