lunedì 14 febbraio 2011

Boeing e Airbus: Sintesi dai rispettivi Website

Boeing strives to conduct operations in compliance with environmental laws, regulations, policies and procedures, prevent pollution by conserving energy and resources, recycling, reducing waste, and continually improving own environmental management system. In addition to adopting this policy, Boeing has set aggressive and transparent performance targets to drive environmental thought and action throughout its operations. All of Boeing's major manufacturing sites are certified to the internationally recognized ISO 14001 environmental management system standard.

Climate Change Approach
Boeing believes that climate change is a serious environmental challenge that requires credible action and hence is committed to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from own facilities and products. To this end Boeing works with customers and other stakeholders to pioneer new technology to improve efficiencies throughout the system including the adoption of eco-friendly products and services with the aim at reducing carbon intensity of air transportation. At its major U.S. manufacturing facilities Boeing has set 25% reduction targets for the period between 2007 and 2012 to greenhouse gas emission, energy and water consumption, hazardous waste generation, and 25% increase to solid waste recycling rate. Each of these targets is being pursued actively, with achievements outscoring goals over the first three years. Eco-friendly design innovation is secured by directing more than 75% of research and development to benefit environmental performance, which will deliver at least 15% improvement in CO2 emissions and fuel efficiency to each new generation of commercial airplanes

Bio-derived Fuels
Boeing is sharing sustainable biofuel research and solutions throughout the industry, focusing on those produced from algae and other renewable resources that do not compete with food crops for land or water. Sustainable biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their life cycle while offering the potential to lessen aviation's dependence on fossil fuels.

Bio-Fuel Testing
In 2008 Boeing and its industry partners conducted the first commercial flight using biofuel mixed with traditional Jet A-1. Subsequent demonstration flights used a variety of bio-derived fuels including jatropha, camelina and algae. All flights were conducted on Boeing airplanes with no modifications to the aircraft or engines. In June 2009, Boeing and an industry team released a research a key study on sustainable biofuels (*) which proved that they perform as well as conventional jetfuel. A large number of blends of up to 50%  bio-kerosene and balance fossil-fuel were tested on several commercial jet engine types. These tests demonstrated that critical quality requisites including freezing point, flash point, fuel density and viscosity may be fully met by bioblends like those trialed. In late 2009, the U.S. Navy conducted the military's first ground-based biofuels test of an F/A-18 engine. The U.S. Air Force began a series of biofuel test flights in March 2010, and on Earth Day, the Navy flew a Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet powered by biofuel. In 2011 it is planned  that biofuel will be tested in other Boeing products including the C-17 Globemaster and the F-15 Eagle.

Participation in Joint R&D Programmes
Boeing is a founding member of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group devoted to reducing greenhouse gases emissions from commercial aviation and also participates in the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, a broad-based industry coalition that addresses fuel alternatives in commercial, non-commercial and military aviation. Additionally Boeing serves on the board of the Algal Biomass Organization, focused on creating commercial markets for algae-based fuels and greenhouse gas abatement and takes part in the Roundtable on Sustainable Biofuels, an international initiative bringing together industry, investors, environmental organizations and producers of bio-derived fuels. Research is also at the core of Boeing interest, with a number of joint research programs at universities and institutions including Yale, the University of Queensland in Australia, the Masdar Institute in Abu Dhabi, India's Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Boeing also works with other companies including GE, Honeywell's UOP, Northrop Grumman, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce, to conduct laboratory research and engine tests with sustainable biofuels. The U.S. Air Force Research Lab is a valued collaborator in these efforts. This ongoing research, combined with flight tests have contributed to the international certification of biofuels as drop-in substitutes to petrol. ASTM, a widely recognized standardization body , will approve the use of  bio-blends  for scheduled commercial flights very soon.

Links to Boeing:


(*)Link to the Bio-SPK Evaluation report:
                              

Alternative fuel research is a core tenet of Airbus’ initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of air transport. The company believes that alternative fuels are a must for sustainable aviation growth and offer advantages over standard oil-derived jet fuel in terms of supply, diversity and eco-efficiency.
 

Aviation contributes to approximately two per cent of all man-made CO2 emissions. During the past 40 years, the industry has improved its fuel efficiency and reduced its related CO2 emissions by around 70 per cent. The air transport sector as a whole has voluntarily committed to meeting ambitious environmental targets, including carbon neutral growth by 2020 and a 50 per cent net reduction of CO2 emissions in 2050, compared to 2005 figures.

Biofuels
Airbus is pioneering the introduction of sustainable biofuels, which will make a major impact on CO2 emissions from aviation. Biofuels’ emissions are no less than fossil fuels’, but their plant supply sources fix CO2 as they grow – offsetting what will be emitted when they are burned. Biofuels are an attractive alternative to standard kerosene because it requires neither aircraft nor engine modifications, and can be mixed with existing kerosene and used with the current-generation infrastructure. 

There are at least three types of “drop-in” alternative fuel sources that can meet the performance of non-renewable (fossil) jet fuels, including biomass treated with the Fischer-Tropsch process; hydro-processed esters and fatty acids (HEFA); and hydrotreated cellulosic fibre (HCF).

Vision
Research and test flights have shown that synthetic biofuels can replace fossil fuels on today’s aircraft without the need for modification. Airbus estimates that sustainable biofuels could supply some 30 per cent of commercial aviation as early as 2030. The biggest challenge is producing sustainable supplies in sufficient quantity, in order to provide necessary quantities of fuel at a competitive cost. Airbus directs its research on fuels from sustainable plants or biomass supplies that do not impact socially or compete with food, land and water resources.
The company continuously works with industry partners to fully explore alternative fuels’ potential value to the aviation industry. These efforts include supporting airlines to implement projects; providing decision-makers with relevant biofuel data; developing research programmes in collaboration with universities; and supporting the regulatory approval process for new biofuels

Achievements
In collaboration with Shell International Petroleum and Rolls-Royce, Airbus marked a step towards the development of alternative fuel solutions with an A380 flight test in 2008, which utilised gas-to-liquid (GTL) kerosene. Synthesised through the Fischer-Tropsch process, its product is cleaner than the oil-derived jet fuel used with current commercial aircraft – resulting in lower sulphur emissions. The second commercial flight using GTL fuel was performed in April 2010 by a United Airlines A319. To carry out engineering, economic analysis and to move into the development of sustainable biofuels, Qatar Airways – in collaboration with Airbus – launched in 2010 the biofuel value chain to commercialise biofuels. Later that year, Airbus teamed up with Brazil’s TAM Airlines and conducted the first biofuel flight in Latin America. This experimental flight is part of a wider project to help develop a production chain for renewable biofuel, with the purpose of creating a Brazilian platform for sustainable aviation bio-kerosene.
Thanks to a recent agreement with Lufthansa, Airbus is taking a significant step forward towards sustainable aviation with the launch of the world’s first passenger biofuel flights in the first half of 2011 using a biofuel blend made from 50 per cent hydro-processed esters and fatty acids.
 Link:



Nessun commento:

Posta un commento