It's bad enough for some propeller aircrafts to be described as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could begin having a dig at commercial airplane flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.

With the civil air travel industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and ecological legislation, the race is on to find feasible alternatives to standard kerosene and these up until now seem to come down to various kinds of biofuel.

Not surprisingly, the first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British aviation pioneer, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with limited biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized various blends of regular fuel and bio derivatives consisting of some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foods items.

Jatropha is a genus of around 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the household Euphorbiaceae.

In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the very best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to dry spell and bugs, and produces seeds containing 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial significant Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation transferred to carry out research and advancement into using biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as tactical specialists for the project.

The most recent airline to start explore new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually conducted internal US flights using a mix of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mixture, it is declared, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.

One really motivating development has been the move far from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers thereby avoiding a rate spiral. Not so long back, a rise in usage of biofuels in vehicles triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted excessive corn to fuel processing.

Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined true blessing certainly if some individuals ended up starving just to please somebody else's green qualifications.