The company also plans to provide biofuels for buses, trains and cars within the next three to four years, Branson told a Mortgage Bankers Association meeting in Boston.
"Early next year we will fly one of our 747s without passengers with one of the fuels that we have developed," he said.
Virgin hopes to complete the landmark test flight before Air New Zealand who had already announced plans to test a flight on a combination fuel of biofuel and kerosene in late 2008.
Branson pledged last year to devote all profits from his 51 per cent stake in Virgin's airline and rail businesses over the next decade to the fight against global warming. As part of this commitment, he has founded Virgin Fuels, which is investing US$400 million (approximately £200 million) over three years in renewable energy initiatives.
Cutting the emissions of heat-trapping gases from transportation sources is one of the greatest challenges faced by the transport industry.
Biofuels or bust
Biofuels experienced a boom this year as both oil prices and environmental concerns soared. The clean fuels emit less greenhouse gases than conventional fuels as they absorb carbon dioxide as they grow.
Bioethanol, the most common biofuel at present, may not be the best adapted for use in aircraft, however.
Branson said ethanol freezes at 15,000 feet and that butanol, a fuel similar to gasoline that can be made from biomass, may be a more suitable alternative. It is also less corrosive than ethanol.
Both butanol and bioethanol are generated by the fermentation of sugars contained in plant matter. Bioethanol is produced primarily from corn in the US and sugar cane in Brazil.
Virgin Fuels has invested in a small number of US ethanol projects and hopes eventually to produce branded biofuels, the company's managing partner said earlier this year.
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Date Published: October 16, 2007
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An unsustainable scam
Just in time for April Fool's Day comes news of the latest scam in the biofuels industry. As we report today, cargo loads of biofuel are being shipped from Europe to the US where they are topped up, allowing traders to claim a subsidy from Washington, and then shipped back. Despite the dateline, this is no prank - it accounts for up to 10% of all biofuel exports from America to Europe - even though it makes a mockery of the notion of a green fuel.
Comment from: Joanne Kelly
I think it's crazy promoting biofuels blindly. To produce these fuels, mass deforestation will have to take place. Forests are being wiped out to grow plantations of palm oil, corn and sugar cane in the name of these fa…
Comment posted: 25 Oct 2007 01:10