(Photo: Continental Airlines)

From Green Right Now Reports

Houston-based Continental Airlines today announced a major increase in the amount of waste being recovered in its recycling programs following the company’s decision to put special emphasis on recycling projects.

As the United States prepares to observe “America Recycles Day” on Sunday, Continental said that so far in 2009, it has collected more than 4 million pounds of mixed recyclables from terminal operations at its Houston Bush Intercontinental, New York/Newark Liberty and Cleveland Hopkins hubs – an 800 percent year-over-year increase. Mixed recyclables include newspapers, cans, and plastic bottles contributed by co-workers and customers via designated “EcoSkies” recycling bins in hub airport terminals.

“While Continental has had a robust recycling program for more than a decade, we have made substantial enhancements to the program throughout 2008 and 2009, increasing recycling onboard our aircraft, at our airport terminals and at other supporting facilities, like our food service kitchens,” Leah Raney, Continental’s managing director of global environmental affairs, said in a statement. “We have had strong encouragement and support from our co-workers and customers, and we are excited to see such great results from our expanded recycling program.”

In 2008, Continental’s expanded inflight and flight kitchen recycling efforts resulted in the recovery of more than 462 tons pounds of plastic and aluminum, and more than 1,300 tons of cardboard. So far in 2009, Continental has more than doubled that amount, recovering more than 1,500 tons of plastic and aluminum, and more than 30,000 tons of cardboard.

Continental also works with contract caterers at the non-hub airports it serves to encourage recycling; today, more than 91 percent of Continental’s domestic caterers and more than 87 percent of its international caterers recycle.

Due to Continental’s focus on increasing its recycling efforts in 2009 alone, Continental has:

• Recycled enough aluminum to build 20 Boeing 777 airplanes
• Saved more than 584,300 trees
• Saved enough water to meet the monthly freshwater needs of 106,900 homes
• Saved enough energy to heat and cool more than 49,600 homes
• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 35,208 metric tons
• Reduced carbon footprint to landfills by saving 116,900 cubic yards of waste

Continental said proceeds from its recycling program are re-invested in the program or donated to We Care, a nonprofit charity organization that provides financial assistance to Continental employees in need.

The skies are getting cleaner thanks to efforts made by Continental Airlines in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell’s UOP. In early January of this year, Continental Airlines conducted the first biofuel demonstration flight by a commercial carrier in North American. Wednesday, Continental Airlines said it was “very pleased” in announcing its analysis of the flight.

The 90-minute test flight, taking off from, and then returning to, Houston, successfully completed many necessary flight operations. Engine 1 operated on 100 percent jet fuel, while Engine 2 of the Boeing 737-800 operated on a blend of 50 percent jet fuel and 50 percent biofuel. The biofuel was made from a combination of algae and jatropha plants, which do not impact food harvests, water resources or contribute to deforestation.

While reducing the amount of traditional jet fuel used was an accomplishment because it potentially reduces dependency on crude oil — the use of biofuel provided an even greater benefit in lessening air pollution.

“Overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions related to using a biofuel like the one used on our demonstration flight are estimated to be reduced by 60 percent to 80 percent as compared to traditional jet fuel,” said Susannah Thurston, Corporate Communications Manager at Continental

“We are very pleased with the findings of the demonstration flight,” Thurston said Thursday.

As far as when travelers can expect biofuels to be used on commercial flights, Susan Gross with UOP Communications expects it to be another three years. UOP expects to receive the licensing rights at the end of this summer. It will then take an approximate two-and-a-half years until the fuel is produced in commercial quantities and widely used.

In regards to the cost of biofuel in comparison to traditional jet fuel, Susan Gross says “at this time, we are unable to predict the actual cost.” There are two large factors when computing the cost of the biofuel, 85% is directly related to the cost of the products used and 15% is the cost of refining the fuel. The refining cost will stay the same. For example, the two alternatives used in the Continental demonstration flight, algae oil and jatropha plants, are more expensive than crude oil at this time. UOP hopes that with increasing demand for alternative fuels, more plants will be harvested and the prices will be comparable.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The first commercial air test flights using biofuels took to the sky earlier this month: First Air New Zealand, then Continental Airlines gave us a glimpse of a greener way to fly with a biofuel test flight on Jan. 7 at Bush Continental Airport in Houston.

Next up: Japanese Airline, JAL has announced a demonstration flight using a Boeing 747-300 powered by biofuel set for Jan. 30 in Tokyo.

Jennifer Holmgren is General Manager of Renewable Energy & Chemicals for Honeywell’s UOP, a refining technology developer which partnered with Continental on its landmark project. One week later, she was a keynote speaker at Petrotech 2009, an international oil and gas conference hosted by the Indian government, on the topic of emerging technologies (the conference ends Thursday).

We asked Holmgren to elaborate on the development of biofuels for commercial airlines.

Q. What factors are coming together for these test flights to be happening at this particular time?

A. The aviation industry is motivated to find a solution and diversify its fuel supply. We are all eager to prove that a sustainable biofuels solution exists and could make an impact to commercial aviation as soon as 2012. Today the technology to convert biological resources to fuel exists, and technology to cultivate and process various sustainable feed stocks is nearer than many think.

Q. How long until sustainable raw materials will be available in a quantity that makes biofuel viable for commercial aviation?

A. We believe that sources like jatropha and camelina (non-edible, oilseed crops that require little to no irrigation and can be grown in areas food crops won’t grow) will be available in commercial scale quantities within the next three years. Technology to produce algae in commercial scale quantities is a little farther out – more like eight to 10 years. Events like the Continental flight help to keep motivation and momentum around developing these technologies and are gathering the data that will be needed for aircraft certification.

Q. As your business and others wait for those markets to turn, what kinds of things will you be trying to accomplish in the intervening years?

UOP is working to develop a complete portfolio of technology for renewable energy and chemicals. We have already introduced and licensed a process to produce green diesel fuel and are also leveraging a joint venture with the Canadian business Ensyn to offer technology and equipment to convert second-generation biomass like forest and agricultural wastes into oil for power generation, heating fuel. The joint venture will also accelerate research and development for technology that will convert this pyrolysis oil into transportation fuels like diesel, gasoline and jet fuel.

Q. You have said production levels (for biomass jet fuel) could reach hundreds of millions of gallons per year by 2012. What are some of the ways companies will ensure that overall environmental impact of production and delivery is minimal?

A. The UOP renewable jet fuel process is modeled after traditional hydroprocessing technology that has been used in refineries for more than 50 years to produce transportation fuels. Emissions from the renewable process are comparable to the tradition petroleum-based process. The key to realizing greenhouse gas emission reductions is the use of sustainable second-generation feedstock sources. The source for the fuel must be cultivated and harvested in manners that do not tax valuable food, land or water resources.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media