A Hainan Airlines flight has completed China's first passenger flight powered by cooking oil-based biofuel.
The Boeing 737 aircraft flew from Shanghai to Beijing with 156 passengers and eight crew on board, taking off at 8:20am and arriving safely at Beijing Capital International Airport at 10:50am. The fuel, comprised of 50 percent waste cooking oil and 50 percent petrol, was produced by state-owned oil conglomerate Sinopec.
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Hong Kong-based Dragonair also planned on conducting a biofuel-powered flight today between Hong Kong and Shanghai, but plans were derailed at the eleventh hour when the Civil Aviation Administration of China declined to certify their fuel and they were beaten to the punch by the mainland's fourth-largest carrier.
The innovation finally provides a welcome alternative use for so-called 'gutter oil' - leftover slop illegaly collected from the drains and gutters near restaurants tand then resold and reused as cheap cooking oil.
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[Image via Aviation News]
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