What fuel will airplanes run on once fossil based fuels are exhausted?

Question

Cars have options of bio fuels and electricity.. Ships have nuclear options... But what fuel option does an airplane have?

We hear of airline fleets expanding and newer, better and bigger airports being built all the time, but is there an eternal source of jet fuel?

Answer 1

Sorry if this answer is too long...but its the only way to describe it...

My guess is that when things start to get tight there will be two options for aircraft and they will utilize both...
First is ethanol... farm high sugar content crops... ferment them to convert to ethanol... a few additives and you've got some pretty good avgas. (Of course biofuel could work good for jet fuel too!)
Second is solar energy... planes that have demonstrated this have been light in weight, with the majority of their weight actually being solar cells... Also because the cells are rigid and straight the wings on the plane were more "rigid" on top. They didn't have that nice curve that generates the most lift. Solar companies are now developing solar cells that weigh up to 10 times less then their silicon predecessors, and they are flexible! These new cells have been demonstrated to work but are still in the development stage. Also the efficiency of solar cells in general is on the rise... meaning they can pull more energy out of the sun. By the time were running out of fossil fuels this technology will be much cheaper and powerful.
So you'll end up with a kind of hybrid plane, covered in cheap solar cells that flex to fit the streamline shape of the plane. For take off (when the most power is needed) it will use ethanol for fuel to power the engine, (by then our engines will be very efficient too!) and then after your above the clouds and in cruise the solar takes over, providing free unlimited energy to keep the plane aloft. Imagine the endurance on that plane! You could stay up there indefinitely!

Answer 2

Hydrogen without a doubt. It's the hydrogen powered second stage of the Saturn V that made the missions to the Moon possible. Lockheed did a study in the 80s and they drew up plans for a hydrogen powered experimental L1011 Tristar aircraft, but nothing went forward with the project.
There is no other fuel in the galaxy that has more bang for the buck as hydrogen. The payoff is it's non-polluting, is universally abundant, and in a world increasingly worried about global warming that will be it's main selling point. The technology will likely evolve along with the blended body heavy lift airliner that will come along in perhaps thirty years. An super-efficient plan form with room for large tanks of LOX will make it the way to go.

Answer 3

Bio fuels could be used ie those made from plants or plant oils. Alternatively, given a source of electric power, hydrogen can be split out from water and used as a fuel. Direct solar conversion has already been successfully used but only in a very light plane with very limited carrying capacity.

Answer 4

The airplane will adapt, just as they always did.

And if such a fuel crisis occurs, I'd bet that it would be the airplane that will pioneer the new form of power. It has benefitted from the finest researches and abundant fundings, fuel exhaustion is not a perceivable threat to flying.

Answer 5

Currently there is no alternative, and new engine designs for new generation aeroplanes from Boeing and Airbus to replace the 737 and A320 are still oil dependant due in service in 2015.

There are many thousands of airliners in service with no new engine technology on the horizon it will be a mad scrabble if anything were to appear towards the end of the next decade!

Answer 6

Airplanes will use the same fuels as the big trucks - Bio diesel. There will be fewer planes in the future when they connect all the airports via high speed rail.

Answer 7

Fortunately or un-fortunately depending on your stand point most jet turbines will run on anything that is combustible. For example if the mood took them you could run a 747 on perfume.
Bio-fuels are the most probable alternative fuel as it has a similar make up to current av-gas.

Answer 8

Recently, Virgin Atlantic Airways made a huge order of 787s from Boeing. In the press release, it talks about a biofuel demonstration of a B747-400 in 2008.

Answer 9

in the 80's they made a plane fly on nuclear fuel but the reactor took up too much space so you couldn't take anyone on the plane. That's if you would want to go on a radioactive plane that could blow up at any moment.

Answer 10

do no longer hardship relating to the far destiny. there are various sources of oil that we don't at the instant take great thing approximately yet will ought to interior the close to destiny. those sources require greater money to extract yet would be greater beneficial than adequate to furnish area of expertise demands like the airline industry and such after the autos of the international swap to a minimum of something less costly. basically be arranged to pay for the fee distinction in airfare around the twelve months 2050.