The EU’s Airplane Carbon Trading Program and What It Means – Conde Nast Daily Traveler
I took a look at the recently-suspended emissions trading system in Europe and the politics behind it.
Holiday travel and tighter planes raise likelihood of having larger seatmates – Cleveland Plain Dealer
I was asked to comment on another article about passengers who can’t fit in one seat.
Let’s take a break from some of the more depressing subjects out there (eg, labor strife) and talk about something cool. Once again, science has proven its awesomeness with a “nanostructure surface” that can make metals repel ice. This 
would be huge for aviation in so many ways.
Thanks to the Ideas Market blog over at the Wall Street Journal, I found out about this paper put together with the thrilling name “Liquid-Infused Nanostructured Surfaces with Extreme Anti-Ice and Anti-Frost Performance.” Sounds thrilling, right? Let’s talk more about what it actually means.
Icing Sucks
Airplanes and ice have a love-hate relationship. Airplanes hate ice, but ice loves cozying up to a wing or a tail and causing all kinds of problems. Airplanes are built in very specific ways to ensure that the wings can provide enough lift for the aircraft at various speeds. When ice builds up on a wing, it disrupts the airflow by altering the shape of the wing surface. Even minor changes can have a major impact on lift. The list of accidents due to ice is very long, but some of the more famous are the Air Florida accident at Washington/National and the American Eagle crash over Roselawn, Indiana.
Icing can be a problem at any stage of flight. Before departure, it’s incredibly critical, and that’s why airplanes will “de-ice” before taking off. Have you ever sat at the gate and all of a sudden seen a nasty liquid being sprayed over the aircraft? That’s deicing fluid. Sometimes, it will happen at the end of the runway right before takeoff. Different airports have different ways of dealing with it and the various conditions will impact how often it needs to happen and where. The fluid is meant to melt any ice that might be on the airplane. There is also an effort to use “anti-icing” to create a temporary barrier to prevent ice from forming again. In severe icing conditions, this may not work for very long. As we saw with the Air Florida accident, waiting too long in bad weather can very easily result in disaster.
In the air, it’s a different story since it’s not very easy to find a way to spray the airplane up there. There are three ways to de-ice in the air. Some airplanes (like the one that crashed in Indiana) use de-icing boots that sit on the leading edge of the wing. They inflate to break the ice and then it blows off in the slipstream. There is also a system that uses “bleed” air, meaning it takes air that is diverted off from the engine. The heat is used to melt the ice. Additionally, there are mechanical heating systems that can heat the wings to melt ice.
Something Better
All of this is no fun and it’s costly. The deicing systems add weight to the aircraft. The need to deice on the ground snarls traffic and delays aircraft left and right. This doesn’t even address the issue of disposal of the deicing fluid. It’s a real mess. So if there’s a way to prevent ice from forming and have it built into the wing, then there should be a huge market for it.
What is being proposed is the use of what they call “SLIPS” — slippery, liquid-infused porous surfaces. Catchy acronym. But, um, what? Well, a previous study gives a little more light into what this is. You start with a “nanostructure surface,” which is really something very, very tiny with little itty-bitty holes in it. Then you infuse a liquid into the holes that naturally does not mix with water. You’ve all done the experiment as a child putting oil and water together only to see them stay separate, right? It’s that idea. So when water comes into contact with this surface, it will be repelled and ice won’t form.
Yes, the idea is simple and extremely awesome. And apparently, it works in some very cold temperatures. These SLIPS are just applied to metal surfaces, so they don’t require any special type of metal. The potential for something like this is tremendous.
I’m sure we’re still fairly far out from having a workable application, but the idea should have bean counters and ops folks alike salivating.
We’ve heard people talk about biofuels for quite awhile now, and algae has always been promoted as one of the best possible hopes for mass production. It’s renewable and it doesn’t take from existing food supplies. But will we actually be seeing algae-powered airplanes in the near future? Probably not. I spoke with OriginOil President and CEO Riggs Eckelberry about the state of algae oil product, and it was a really interesting discussion.
The use of algae oil as fuel is not just hype. It has been proven that it can be done, and according to Riggs, it has a “fairly compact footprint.” Part of the issue until now has been figuring out the best way to extract the oil.
In Riggs’ words, in the current process, “they literally cook the water out. It takes a huge amount of energy to do that. Eventually it turns into a 10% water content which is an extremely dry meal. Then they combine it with hexane to extract the oil.”
So it takes a lot of energy and the use of chemicals to get anything done, and that’s not exactly a sustainable process. OriginOil’s process is different in that it separates the lipids from the biomass and then the algae sinks to the bottom while the oil sits on top of the water. You can see a time-lapsed video of this happening on their website.
They don’t need any chemicals or energy to do this. All they need is a ton of water, which presents problems of its own. At least the water can be reused. After the process is complete, the water simply has to be refiltered and it can be used again and again with limited loss in the process. They’ve also found that you can harvest a certain amount out of a batch every day and it grows back by the next day. Right now, they can pull out about 12.5% per day.
So, now that the processes are improving, can we use this on airplanes? I doubt it. Riggs gave me some numbers to put things in perspective. Let’s say you have 1 acre. On that acre, you probably will have about 40% of it as actual tank capacity for growing. In that environment, you will turn out about 63,000 gallons per year for that acre. How many airplanes can that power?
It’ll keep a 747 in the air for about 18 hours. That’s it.
So at this point, you need a LOT of land to power a fleet of aircraft. It’s just not feasible right now. But there are plenty of other uses that are good for algae and that can help take some demand out for petroleum. Things like specialty chemicals and health foods can work very well.
Riggs was certainly up front about this. “It’s not a very pretty picture. The best the industry has reported, and some are skeptical, is $8 per gallon of oil and some people think it’s more like $12 or $14. It’s still very, very high.”
There is some good news, however. Costs can come down significantly in environments where the right conditions already exist: wastewater treatment plants. Think about it – a ton of water flows through wastewater plants every day, and they can grow algae while that’s going on. Then the cost is very low for production, but again, the quantities won’t power the airline industry.
In Riggs’ mind, we’re probably about 5 years out from having a sustainable algae oil industry, but he’s confident we’ll get there. In order to get algae to power airplanes on a large scale, there’s a lot left to do.
US Airways’ Charlotte to Honolulu Flight Might Just Work
At first glance, the new US Airways flight from Charlotte to Honolulu seems pretty awful, but it may actually end up being smart.
Alaska Fills the Void in the Austin to San Jose Market
American pulls out and a couple days later, Alaska moves in. This might be smart.
Continental’s Biofuel Test Results are Good
Continental’s biofuel test results mirror those of Air New Zealand. They’re good.
Frontier to Become Subsidiary of Republic
Frontier announced yesterday that it plans to come out of bankruptcy as a full subsidiary of Republic.
What is Republic’s Strategy?
Now that Republic has stepped out in a big way with its Frontier purchase, what exactly is its strategy?
787 First Flight Delayed . . . Again
Did you hear that scream from airline exec offices around the world? The 787 is delayed once again.
United Pilots Prepare for Scope Battle
Pilot negotiations at United are heating up and Scope is about to take center stage.
Malev Orders Sukhoi Superjets
The Superjet got a big order, but is this the start of something big?
United Shakes Up Marketing and Distribution Groups
Dennis Cary is out, Graham Atkinson is back in, and marketing and distribution areas and getting makeovers.
Continental’s May Numbers Prove April’s Improvement Wasn’t a Trend
May numbers are out for Continental and they don’t look so hot. No surprise, of course, but still not fun to watch.
Just How Well Did Biofuels Perform in the Air?
Air New Zealand released results of its biofuel test in January, and the results are incredibly impressive.
Online Travel Agents Permanently Drop Booking Fees
Those temporary online travel agent booking fees have been made permanent.
US Airways May Revenue Looks a Lot Like Continental’s
US Airways released its May unit revenue numbers and the results aren’t pretty. No surprises, just not pretty.
Indianapolis Airport Facing Revenue Shortfall
Indianapolis built a new terminal last year, and now with traffic falling, the airport is facing a budget crunch.
Change Happens Slowly at American, Other Large Organizations
Here’s a fun example using American’s website design showing how hard it can be to effect change at a big company.
