The Future of Aerospace Engines

(Aviation Goes Green) Everyone agrees that aircraft engines need to get greener. Does the answer lie in revolutionary propulsion systems, or will our future travels be powered by the same old jet engine running on renewable fuels? Metalworking World looks into the aero engines of the future.

...Perhaps there is no need to actually replace the internal combustion engine. “The way I see a greening of aviation is through radical improvements in energy efficiency and full implementation of the use of biofuels,” says (Tomas) Grönstedt, (associate professor in the deparment of applied mechanics at Chalmers University in Gothenburg, Sweden). “Algae could provide a solution to produce the necessary amounts of biofuels without competing with food production. But this requires that current technical obstacles are overcome.”

...Renewable fuels: Jatropha, a weed-like plant that grows on barren land, is being hailed as a potential source of jet fuel. Several airlines have successfully tested the oil produced from jatropha seeds, which, it is claimed, offers greenhouse gas reductions of up to 60 percent compared with petroleum-based jet fuel. In June 2011 a Gulfstream G450 powered by equal amounts of traditional fuel and camelina-based biofuel made the first-ever transatlantic biofuel-powered flight. READ MORE