Can an aeroplane fly on green fuel?

Question

As cars can run on gas power which is cheaper why cant aeroplanes. Or is it something to do with weight to ratio problems.

Answer 1

The economy of the engine itself can have a bigger impact than using a different fuel. Modern jets use high bypass turbofans, where the actual turbojet part of the engine is much smaller, and most of the air doesn't even enter the combustion chamber itself.
The industry has also been tinkering with the concept of unducted fans, where the engine essentially has a special multiblade propellor designed to rotate at high speeds. Efficiency is 30-50% higher but it still hasn't caught on yet since fuel shortages are not at crisis level yet.

Answer 2

Turbine engines can run on anything. But operators are concerned about cost per unit energy and volume per unit energy.

If you can make a green fuel for half the price of jet fuel with 3/4 of the energy, then it would be more cost effective to the operator to go with the green fuel. Many turbine engines are de-rated so recovering lost power wouldn't be a big problem. The fuel would have to be approved by the FAA and engine would need some small modifications.

For volume per unit energy, the problem is the aircraft's range will be limited with lower energy fuel. The same thing happened when some aircraft were converted from piston to turboprop, (even though jet fuel has more energy per volume than avgas, turboprops have a shorter range due to much hugher fuel consumption).

Answer 3

First we have 3 grades of fuel :

1- AVGAS 100 LL (100/130) Blue, Low Lead
2- AVGAS 100 (100/130) Green, High Lead
3- AVGAS 80 (80/87) Red, Very Low Lead

for airplane using any of that grades we have to consider the high altitude they fly and the freezing point for any of those grades fuel.
in South America and Canada they use the RED
In US they using Green
In UK they using Blue

the answer for your Q is

Yes there is some types of A/C flying with green fuel depends of there operation conditions and the engine requirement by the manufacture.

Answer 4

ANSAG,
you do NOT know what you are talking about. 100ll is blue, but 100/130 IS green.. the reason for the dye is so that if it is mixed with jet a it will turn straw colored, thus telling the pilot his fuel is contaminated.

In the past, there were many different grades of aviation gasoline in general use e.g. 80/87, 91/96, 100/130,108/135 and 115/145. However, with decreasing demand these have been rationalised down to one principle grade, Avgas 100/130. (To avoid confusion and to attempt to eliminate errors in handling aviation gasoline, it is common practice to designate the grade by just the lean mixture performance, i.e. Avgas 100/130 becomes Avgas 100). More recently, an additional grade was introduced to allow one fuel to be used in engines originally designed for grades with lower lead contents: this grade is called Avgas 100LL, the LL standing for 'low lead'.

Answer 5

Standard car gasoline burns in an airplane's engine, but not very well. It does not deal well with the changes in altitude and temperature that airplanes go through. So basically, when you're on the ground it may seem like it runs fine, but as soon as you get off the ground you notice that your engine isn't prodcing much power and theres a terrible knocking sound coming from your engine. Basically, you're in trouble at that point.

I think you might be asking about alternative fuels however. Boeing has actually built a 737 that runs on hydrogen. Its bulky, heavy, and extremely volatile (think of the Hindenburg moving at 400mph) so its no very popular. It was done as a research project, just to se if it could be done, and it can. However, its not very practical.

Answer 6

The Embraer EMB 202 Ipanema is a small aircraft designed for crop-dusting that runs on alcohol. It is mainly used in Brazil where ethanol is widely available and is actually cheaper to operate than the standard aviation gasoline version.

If you were referring to larger aircraft (i.e jets) then I believe the major engine companies are all doing lots of research into 'green' aviation fuels, however they have all encountered many problems including the freezing of such fuels at the high altitudes flown by commercial jets.

Answer 7

Yes, there is in fact an airplane that runs on grain alcohol, which it a commercially produced alcohol (think wiskey) which comes from corn, so no dependence on oil. Also, most turbine engines can run on basically anything, JetA has very similar burning characteristics as diesel fuel, which can also be bio-diesel. Cessna, a leader in the aviation field, is doing research in making their piston powered aircraft diesel and also has conversion capabilities for older aircraft. Avgas is blue (in color) though, contrary to a previous post, if its green it has alge in it and you should not fly.

Answer 8

No - the purity of the fuel is to do with the plane's engines - it won't burn unless the fuel is of a certain purity - however having said that there is no reason why, providing they can get the purity bit right that a 'plane couldn't burn green fuel. The only thing is do we want to see green vapour trails across the sky????

Answer 9

Of course they can! And it has nothing to do with weight to ratio problems....look at how much green beer is drank on St Patrick's day without regard to cost, ratio or weight.

Answer 10

If you mean alcohol the answer is yes BUT as alcohol has only about 60% of the energy content per kilogramme it would not fly that far.
Cars using petrol with 10% of alcohol in it do about 1mpg less but the alcohol is taxed at the same rate/litre as petrol!
RoyS