LONDON - Virgin Atlantic plans to operate a Boeing 787 from London to New York, powered solely by waste oils and fats, a move hailed as a step toward reducing aviation's significant environmental impact, Francesca Street reports for CNN. Continue reading original article.
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
20 December 2022 - In 2023, one of Virgin Atlantic’s flagship Boeing 787s, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, will take off from London Heathrow and make the journey to New York’s John F Kennedy Airport – a journey made by thousands of people for business, family, and leisure every week. But this will be no ordinary journey.
When fully replacing kerosene, SAF can slash lifecycle carbon emissions by more than 70% compared to conventional fossil jet fuel. This flight is expected to be fuelled by SAF made primarily from waste oils and fats, such as used cooking oil. The use of 100% SAF on the flight, combined with carbon removal through biochar credits – a material which traps and stores carbon taken from the atmosphere – will make the flight net zero.
Other challenges preventing a higher uptake of SAF include high fuel production costs, technology risk at commercial scale and feedstock availability.
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Jamie Whitney, Associate Editor
Military + Aerospace Electronics
