Continental Airlines Completes Biofuel-Powered Test Flight

Continental Airlines has completed the first test flight of a two-engine commercial aircraft powered by a sustainable biofuel last week at Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The joint initiative with Boeing, GE Aviation, CFM International, and Honeywell’s UOP tested a biofuel blend sourced from algae and jatropha plants on a two-engine Boeing 737-800.

The test flight is the first time a commercial carrier has used an algae-derived fuel, claims the company.

The algae oil was provided by Sapphire Energy, while the jatropha oil component – the same as that used by the Air New Zealand test flight – was sourced from Terasol Energy.

During the two hour test flight, Continental test pilots will operate one of the two CFM International CFM56-7B engines with a blend fuel made up of 50% sustainable biofuel and 50% traditional jet fuel.

Continental, Boeing, GE Aviation, CFM and UOP have been testing the algae/jatropha biofuel over the past nine months and expect no difference in performance compared with traditional fuels.

The biofuel blend promises to be a ‘drop-in’ fuel requiring no modifications to the aircraft or engine.

The partner companies will analyse the flight data to assess the effect on the aircraft and engine – and look for any differences, apart from performance, with conventional fuels.

“What we have found is that the second generation fuel being tested today comes closer to simulating the characteristics of traditional jet fuel in terms of engine performance and operability, such as fuel consumption, engine start and other parameters,” says Eric Bachelet, president and CEO of CFM International.

According to Jennifer Holmgren of UOP, sustainable biofuels are a real near-term option for aviation.

“We believe that production levels could reach hundreds of millions of gallons per year by 2012,” she says.