Emerald Knight

Cooking oil used to fuel planes

• 29th June 2011
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In an attempt to cuts costs and emissions, Dutch airline KLM has said it intends to use a biofuel made from recycled cooking oil to power more than 200 of their flights between Amsterdam and Paris from this September.

The fuel, biokerosene, is made using recycled frying oil and has been shown in both lab and live tests to have the same properties as kerosene.

KLM are soon expecting to have authorisation to use biokerosene to power their flights following successful tests – which included using a 50-50 mix of biokerosene and regular jet fuel to power one engine of an Air France-KLM Boeing 747 in the Netherlands.

KLM managing director Camiel Eurlings said their engines won’t even need a refit to use the cooking oil-based substitute. While the number of cooking oil-fueled flights is limited to 200 at present, Eurlings is confident biokerosene is the future of air travel. He said: “The route to 100% sustainable energy is enormously challenging. We need to move forward together to attain continuous access to sustainable fuel.”

Earlier this year the European Union told airlines they have to cut their carbon emissions by three per cent on flights on the continent by 2012 to comply with pollution laws. Other airlines have already tested bio-fuels in their aircrafts and are expected to follow up with commercial flights shortly.