Aircraft

Rolls-Royce this week began final tests on a jatropha-based biofuel selected for a demonstration flight on an Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 in December.

The new fuel type, refined by Honeywell subsidiary UOP, was delivered to Rolls-Royce's facility in Derby, UK, to ensure it meets commercial aviation specifications, Air New Zealand says.

The first test flight is scheduled for December, if the fuel passed the validation tests.

Last October, the carrier teamed up with Boeing, Rolls and UOP to demonstrate a second-generation biofuel.

ANZ later selected the jatropha oil to mix with conventional kerosene for the flight test.

Jatropha is a plant that grows in otherwise non-arable areas that produces between 30% and 40% of its mass in oil, so cultivating it does not compete with arable land to grow food crops.

Preparations for the flight test are continuing despite changes in one part of the original economic reason to finding alternatives to petroleum for jet fuel.

ANZ announced the selection of jatropha in May partly citing the fact that the cost per barrel of fuel had exceeded $174. That number has dropped by nearly two-thirds over the last five months, although it continues to fluctuate.

Virgin America staged a similar demonstration earlier this year using a Boeing 747-400 and a biofuel derived from coconut oil.