FollowVowing to halve its carbon footprint, Virgin Atlantic Airways has announced it plans to begin flying commercial routes by 2014 using a waste gas-based jet fuel. LanzaTech and Swedish Biofuels – partners in the green aviation waste fuel venture – report they are creating this new fuel by capturing, fermenting and chemically converting waste gases from industrial steel production. Virgin Atlantic adds this refining process recycles gases that are typically burned and released into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, adding that this overcomes many of the controversial land use issues often associated with producing biofuels.
This development is expected to take the airline beyond its pledge of a 30 percent carbon reduction per passenger kilometer by 2020.
