It's bad enough for some propeller planes to be referred to as being powered by rubber bands. Now the cynics could start having a dig at business aircraft flying on everything from cooking oil to melted algae.

With the civil aviation market under increasing pressure from increasing oil rates and environmental legislation, the race is on to discover feasible options to traditional kerosene and these up until now appear to boil down to various types of biofuel.

Not surprisingly, the very first trials of alternative fuel were initiated by leader, Sir Richard Branson, whose Virgin Atlantic began London to Amsterdam flights with restricted biofuel usage in 2008. This was rapidly followed by Lufthansa and Air New Zealand who each utilized different blends of routine fuel and bio derivatives including some from made from jatropha which can grow in soil considered too bad for growing mainstream foodstuffs.

jatropha curcas is a genus of roughly 175 succulent plants, shrubs and trees (some are deciduous, like Jatropha curcas), from the family Euphorbiaceae.

In 2007 Goldman Sachs cited Jatropha curcas as one of the finest prospects for future biodiesel production. It is resistant to drought and insects, and produces seeds including 27-40% oil.

Recently, US aerospace giant Boeing, Brazilian aeronautical major Embraer and the Sao Paulo state Research Support Foundation moved to perform research and development into the use of biofuels to power jet airliners. It was reported that Brazilian airline companies Azul, Gol, TAM and Trip would act as strategic consultants for the project.

The current airline company to start experimenting with new fuels is the Alaska Air Group which has actually carried out internal US flights using a blend of 80 % petroleum based fuel and 20% biofuel made from cooking oil. This mix, it is claimed, can cut hazardous emissions by 10%.

One actually encouraging advancement has actually been the move far from biofuels which complete head on with food consumers consequently preventing a cost spiral. Not so long ago, a rise in usage of biofuels in cars and trucks triggered a spike in maize rates as US farmers diverted too much corn to fuel processing.

Hopefully in the future, airline companies and drivers will focus biofuel usage on non-food sources such as jatropha curcas and algae. It would be a blended true blessing undoubtedly if some people wound up starving just to please another person's green qualifications.