It’s bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the skeptics could start having a dig at industrial aircraft flying on whatever from cooking oil to melted algae.

With the civil aviation industry under increasing pressure from increasing oil prices and ecological legislation, the race is on to discover practical options to conventional kerosene and these so far seem to come down to different kinds of biofuel.

Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by British air travel leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic started London to Amsterdam flights with minimal biofuel use in 2008. This was quickly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too poor for growing mainstream foodstuffs.

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

In 2007 Goldman Sachs mentioned Jatropha curcas as one of the best candidates for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and bugs, and produces seeds consisting of 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aerial major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation relocated to bring out research and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airlines Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic experts for the task.

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

One actually motivating development has been the move far from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers consequently preventing a price spiral. Not so long back, a rise in use of biofuels in automobiles caused a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to .

Hopefully in the future, airlines and motorists will focus biofuel consumption on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a combined blessing undoubtedly if some individuals ended up starving simply to please someone else’s green credentials.