India's first biofuel-powered flight was successfully tested last week. A 72-seater SpiceJet aircraft, partially powered by bio-jet fuel, took off from Dehradun and landed at the Delhi airport. The biofuel is partially made from renewable resources such as agricultural residues, non-edible oils and bio-degradable fractions of industrial and municipal wastes. Biofuel flights could make air travel cleaner and more efficient, thus drastically reducing the cost of airline operations by reducing the dependency on aviation turbine fuel.
Developed by Dehradun-based CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, the biofuel was rigorously tested to ensure flight safety. Onboard the SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 turboprop aircraft that was flagged off by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat from Dehradun's Jolly Grant Airport. Around 20 people, including officials from aviation regulator DGCA and SpiceJet were in the test flight. The duration of the flight was around 25 minutes, according to an airline executive. Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Dharmendra Pradhan, Dr Harsh Vardhan and Jayant Sinha were at the Delhi airport when the flight landed.
SpiceJet's biofuel is a mix of the oil extracted from the seeds of Jatropja plant and aviation turbine fuel, the airline said. Five hundred farmer families in Chhattisgarh were involved in the production of the partially-refined biofuel used in the flight. Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said, “We want to increase the use of biofuel in the country so that there is reduction in green house gas emission and import of petroleum. We will make sure that there is reduction in green house gas emission and import of petroleum. We will make sure that more and more airlines start the use of biofuel.”
While 25 per cent of the right engine of the aircraft will have the biofuel mix, the left engine will run on aviation turbine fuel. Efficiency of the engine running on biofuel is expected to be slightly higher than that of the other engine.
