Continental Flight No. 9990 recently became the first by a U.S. commercial airliner to test biofuel in flight.
"Nothing has been modified," Erik Bachelet, president of engine manufacturer CFM International, told Discovery News. "The aircraft is expected to resume its normal daily service after the operation."
During a two-hour flight, the aircraft burned a fuel made of algae and jatropha, a plant that grows in arid lands. The test flight, designed to find how the airplane performs with one of its engines burning a fuel that is 50 percent petroleum-based and 50 percent derived from plants, required special licensing from the FAA and had no passengers aboard.
"We're looking to see that the biofuel performs the same as traditional fuel," said Continental spokeswoman Susannah Thurston.
The biofuel was blended with standard airplane fuel to meet density requirements for optimal jet engine performance.
Jennifer Holmgren, general manager at UOP, a Honeywell company that develops and licenses technology to refineries explained that while it possible to meet the rigorous standards using just biofuel, it is still to expensive. The cost is expected to drop with growing demand.
UOP focused on using algae as alternative fuel so as not to interfere with land space that is used to grow food.
Holgrem says that biofuel licensing should happen later this year and that it may be used primarily within the next 10 to 15 years.
The pilots on the test reported that there was no discernible difference in the performance of biofuel from their regularly used jet fuel and that they actually used less biofuel than jet fuel when landing, an added bonus.
Continental Airlines follows on the heels of similar biofuel tests conducted by Virgin Atlantic and Air New Zealand and Japan Airlines is to conduct a biofuel test at the end of the month.
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