The in-depth study will seek to identify practical alternatives to the current industry-standard fuel, kerosene, with the potential to make real reductions to the carbon footprint of aircraft.
The companies will initiate a joint tender process, inviting suppliers to offer alternative fuel samples for testing on a Rolls-Royce RB211 engine from a British Airways (BA) Boeing 747. The tests will be carried out on an indoor engine test bed at the Rolls-Royce facility in Derby, UK.
Following the tender process, there will be a selection of up to four alternative fuels, which will undergo laboratory testing before being delivered to Rolls-Royce in 2009. Each company will be asked to supply up to 60,000 liters of their alternative fuel.
Jonathon Counsell, head of environment at BA, said: We are delighted to be leading this study with Rolls-Royce. We are now well on our way to our target of a 30% improvement by 2010. Recently, we announced a further 25% improvement target on fuel efficiency by 2025, compared with 2005.
