Bio on planes

[dpantazis]

heard this on NPR this morning as i was waking up. its been bantered about before, but i guess its been announced that Branson has 'officially' teamed up with GE and Boeing.

Sky News - Branson's Virgin Planes Go For Green

"Passengers could travel in aircraft run on "green" jet fuel within two years, according to Virgin Atlantic.

Boss Richard Branson is announcing that the group has teamed up with Boeing and engine maker GE to design biofuel that can be used in commercial aircraft."

Ethanol is out due to gelling at altitude.

dp

 

[bushpilot]

ethanol GELS ??? I thought ethanol was a close relative of alcohol

 

[DaveBen]

It is alcohol.

Dave

 

[W4RLR]

Oh, THAT Branson!

At first I thought there was a bunch of guys from that tourist mecca in Missouri that partnered up with Boeing and GE. Redneck expertise at its finest!

Hey, Bubba! Hold my beer while I put the throttles to full power!

 

[bushpilot]

It is alcohol.

Dave

actually dave i knew that...swear it !
so tell me how alcohol GELS...

 

[dpantazis]

i tried finding the the audio link to the story today. no luck yet.

branson did answer a direct question that the fuel was NOT ethanol because of soem reason. that was why they were doing something soy based. which almost make no sense since bioD gells pretty good at +40.

how cold it it at 35k ft?

i think that the most important thing was that he ordered a bunch of planes from boeing and part of the agreement is to try and make a difference with jet plane emissions with new fuel.

dp

 

[acjjkamp]

>how cold it it at 35k ft?

around -60F