São Paulo – Early on Wednesday (23) afternoon a flight by Gol Linhas Aéreas airline from Congonhas, in the city of São Paulo, to President Juscelino Kubitschek Airport, in the Federal District, was Brazil’s first commercial flight using aircraft biofuel. Gol’s operation with biofuel may reduce greenhouse gas emission s by up to 80%. The company hopes to make available some 200 routes using this technology during the 2014 World Cup. The event marks Aviator Day, celebrated on the date in which the Brazilian Santos Dumont made his first aircraft flight.
Aviation biofuel technology was developed by company Amyris and does not need any special adjustment to the aircraft’s engines. “Biofuel is a paradigm change. You are granted, as is the case with biodiesel powered vehicles, a possibility of flying with this product,” said Donato Aranda, a professor at the chemical engineering course of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). The fuel processed for this Wednesday flight used a mixture of vegetable oil, including maize oil and used cooking oil.
The first flight with this technology, an experimental one, took place last year, during the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20. It took at least five years of studies for the validation of technical specifications to be concluded by the aeronautical industry and organisations like ASTM International (a North American organisation that works on standardisation, originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) and the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel Agency (ANP).
*Translated by Mark Ament
