Air Canada is contributing to the Civil Aviation Alternate Fuel Contrail and Emissions Research project (CAAFCER), a research project initiated by the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) to test of the use of biofuel use on contrails, and its environmental benefits.
This project will use advanced sensing equipments mounted on a research aircraft operated by the NRC to calculate the impact of biofuel blends on contrail formation by aircraft on five consecutive biofuel flights operated by Air Canada between Toronto and Montreal in the coming days. During these flights the NRC will trail the Air Canada aircraft with a modified T-33 research jet to get the samples and test the contrail biofuel emissions. The sustainable biofuel is to be produced by AltAir Fuels from used cooking oil and will supplied by SkyNRG.
“The National Research Council of Canada is proud to collaborate with our Canadian partners on this important research that will further reveal the viability of biofuels. By contributing our unique T-33 research aircraft specializing in contrail data collection and our expertise in emissions analysis, we hope to provide key information toward biofuel inclusion in all future flights,” said Jerzy Komorowski, General Manager of NRC’s Aerospace portfolio.
Minimization in the thickness and coverage of contrails produced by the jet engines of aircraft will reduce aviation’s impact on the environment, and can prove to be an important beneficial effect of sustainable biofuel usage in aviation.