Taking Flight on Natural Gas: Will Airlines Use Shell’s Gas-to Liquids Jet Fuel?
When a Qatar Airways plane landed in Doha late Monday, it became the first commercial passenger flight to use fuel from natural gas. But like all “firsts,” the second, third and ten-thousandth time is a bit harder to reach. Cost tends to be the stickler in each one of these alternative jet fuel attempts. This “natural gas first” follows other forays into alternative forms of jet fuel. Algae has been a popular trial biofuel for airlines including Continental Airlines. Virgin Atlantic has tried the coconut, babassu oils mixture and Solazyme nabbed a U.S. Navy contract for its algae-based jet fuel. The alternative jet fuel developed by Royal Dutch Shell for the Qatar Airlines flight provides a modicum of commercial promise. For one, the gas-to-liquids jet fuel is part of a much larger…
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