Cooking Oil Not Just For Your Fried Chicken! Fuels 3-Hour Flight of Superjumbo Airbus A380

The world's biggest passenger plane recently accomplished a three-hour trip utilizing a unique fuel method. The airliner ran through the skies through power provided by cooking oil, setting a record for the first time in history.

The vehicle utilized for the demonstration was the test model Airbus A380. The plane is considered a 'superjumbo,' being the largest passenger carrier of the line.

Airbus A380 Demonstrates Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The Airbus A380 flew Friday with 27 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel or SAF. The aircraft began the trip from Toulouse's Blagnac Airport and ended at Nice.

The plane was the first A380 flight utilizing complete, 100 percent SAF fuel. This was the third time an Airbus vehicle performed such a feature in recent months.

The Airbus enterprise joins the majority of the aviation industry in achieving a net-zero carbon emission by 2050. In the United Kingdom, the government targets SAF usage in 10 percent of the industry by 2030.

The SAF fuel was developed to power a flight efficiently while cutting the standard rate of CO2 emissions by 80 percent. The particular fuel is sustainable, as it can be formulated by utilizing fat and oil wastes.

The SAF can also be derived from municipal wastes, green wastes, and non-food crops.

One feature that stands out in SAF innovation is that the fuel can be produced synthetically that can work with a separate technology, called carbon capture, that collects particles straight from the air.

Some modern jet engines are developed to power an aircraft by using 50 percent green fuel. On the other hand, Rolls-Royce, the firm behind some Airbus engines, explained that their technology could run with 100 percent green fuel by 2023.

The double-decker Airbus A380 test vehicle took off Friday, March 25, with a single Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine. The plane carried 100 percent SAF that performed flawlessly on-air over the course of three hours.

Sustainable Airplane Fuel Targets Net-Zero Carbon Emissions

A Normandy-based enterprise, TotalEnergies, developed the fuel. They provided the Airbus A380 with Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids or HEFA, a unique type of SAF that does not use sulfur and aromatic acids.

The A380 is the third aircraft that flew using 100 percent SAF in over a year. The first SAF-powered vehicle that took off was the A350 in March 2021, and the second was the single-aisle A319neo in October 2021.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimated that the SAF usage of the participating aircraft providers would be able to contribute 65 percent carbon emission reduction of the total cuts needed by the sector in reaching net zero by 2050.

Airbus said that their aircraft are currently certified to travel with fuel that contains a mixture of kerosene and up to 50 percent SAF.

Although the utilization of the particular fuel is efficient, the cost in today's time is still developing, as its price is much higher than the conventional variants.

With that said, there are several plans for building SAF fuel plants by 2030; all backed up by the government and city investors. While adding a sustainable fuel choice, the aviation fuel industry can create more than 6,500 jobs and boost the economy, DailyMail reports.

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