May, 2013:

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/05/01/nasa-clears-biofuel-powered-jets-for-takeoff/

May 1, 2013

NASA Clears Biofuel-Powered Jets for Takeoff

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NASA researchers say commercial airlines can safely fly using plant-based biofuel, following successful test flights in California.

The flights studied the effects of alternate biofuel on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitudes typically flown by commercial airliners.

The Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions (ACCESS) experiment involved flying a NASA Dryden Flight Research Center DC-8 airplane as high as 39,000 feet while an instrumented HU-25C Guardian aircraft, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center, trailed behind at distances ranging from 300 feet to more than 10 miles. The team measured exhaust composition and contrail characteristics depending on fuel type, plume duration and atmospheric conditions.

During the flights, the DC-8’s four CFM56 engines were powered by conventional JP-8 jet fuel, or a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and an alternative fuel of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids produced from camelina plant oil. More than a dozen instruments mounted on the Guardian jet characterized the soot, gases and ice particles streaming from the DC-8.

Bruce Anderson, a senior research scientist at Langley who worked on the project, tells the Associated Press that these fuels are “quite acceptable” for use in commercial jets.

The latest test flights follow a pair of alternative aviation fuel experiment studies conducted in 2009 and 2011. Ground-based instruments measured the DC-8’s exhaust emissions as the aircraft burned alternative fuels while parked on a ramp in California.

A second phase of ACCESS flights is planned for 2014. It will build upon learned from this year’s flights and include a more extensive set of measurements, NASA says.

The ACCESS study is a joint project involving researchers at Dryden, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland and NASA Langley.

Last month, the USDA extended for five years its agreement to work with the FAA and commercial aviation partners, including Boeing and industry trade group Airlines for America, to help develop a viable biofuel for the aviation industry.

http://m.economictimes.com/environment/pollution/waste-to-energy-plant-in-delhi-creating-hazardous-air-quality-conditions/articleshow/19820068.cms

NEW DELHI: A residents’ collective opposing the Timarpur-Okhla waste to energy plant has had air quality samples taken from around the plant analysed by ChesterLabNet and Chennai based Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives which took two 24-hours ambient air samples.

Mark Chernaik, a scientist associated with the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide who studied the reports has said that emissions from the plant are creating “hazardous air quality conditions necessitating immediate abatement of pollutant emissions from this source”.

The ChesterLabNet report dated March 26, 2013, has shown that levels of very fine particulate matter or PM2.5 were 601 micrograms per cubic m in an air sample collected on March 4, 2013, from Haji Colony which is 50 m from the WTE incinerator. The same report shows that levels of PM2.5 were 277.1 mg/ cu m in air sample collected on March 5, 2013, from Sukhdev Vihar which is 110 m from the incinerator. The fact that PM2.5 is higher in air closer to the plant “lends further weight to the conclusion that the incinerator is the source of these harmful levels of PM2.5 in ambient air,” Chernaik has said.

Of the eight DPCC reports on stack emissions that the resident’s collective has obtained, particulate matter levels have exceeded standard on five occasions.

Dharmesh Shah, co-ordinator GAIA said that the 24-hour average level of lead in the air sample collected on March 4 from Haji Colony was 1.25 mg/cu m while that collected on March 5 from Sukhdev Vihar was 1.27 mg/cu m. “This is significantly higher than the permitted daily mean of 1 mg/cu m,” he said.

Chernaik has added: “I reviewed the Chennai Mettex Lab Private Limited Test Report, dated April 2, 2013, in which it is shown that airborne ash from the incinerator contains 480 mg/kg of lead, more than thirty times the expected level of lead in dust of only 14 mg/kg…the report lends strong weight to the conclusion that the incinerator is the source of these harmful levels of lead in ambient air.”

DPCC officials said that it was unscientific to attribute the pollution levels to the plant since air pollution has several sources. “Stack emissions have been slightly higher than permitted on a few occasions due to quality of waste burnt on that day. We are keeping records of it. However, it cannot be said with certainty that high PM2.5 levels are due to the plant,” said an official.

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