Embraer is also testing the effects of using alternative fuels

Embraer, Embraer’s main engine supplier, will also start experiments similar to those of Airbus, with the Brazilian manufacturer also starting scientific testing of flights using only sustainable kerosene. According to a statement from the manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney will be its partner in this, with ground and flight tests planned with an E195-E2. This aircraft will be powered by a different variant of the Airbus A220 and A320 engines.

The trials are being carried out to remove the current 50 per cent blending limit and to test the impact of the alternative fuel on the engine and fuel system, in addition to emissions. Airbus, together with Rolls-Royce and experts from Germany, the UK and Canada, has carried out several test flights of an A350 in recent months.

The preliminary results of the tests, on the ground and then in the air, show that flights with only sustainable kerosene, without mixing, emit fewer microparticles into the air and that this fuel has a lower density but a higher energy content, so that less of it has to be burned. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines have not experienced any abnormalities in either flight or ground tests.

Kerosene from sustainable sources is said by experts to emit up to 80 per cent less emissions over its entire life cycle, as it is produced from products that have already been processed once. This can be from used cooking oil or municipal waste.