Efforts are constantly being made to shift to biofuel and scientists have been researching every possible way to make it happen. Aviation has been a significant contributor to climate change and as such airlines have also been looking at a way to reduce traditional fuel source and go the bio fuel way in order to reduce carbon footprint. Airline company Boeing said in January that it will begin delivering commercial airplanes capable of flying on 100% biofuel by the end of the decade, calling reducing environmental damage from fossil fuels the ‘challenge of our lifetime.’ And now, researchers say they have found a way to convert food waste into biofuel, which will help to reduce the carbon footprint of jet fuel by 165 percent.
According to data, aviation contributes to almost 2.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Battery-run jets are not an option so far as experts say that the proper balance required between power and weight to keep a airplane on air is yet not achievable. This resulted in researchers to look for an alternatives and now in what could actually be a breakthrough in reducing carbon emissions, they have found that fuel made out of food waste could help. Published in a paper recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), this newly designed fuel have been seen to meet aviation standards.
Currently, the oils and waste fats are converted into bio diesel for heavy goods vehicles but researchers in the US have ben able to now turn the waste into a kind of paraffin that works for jet engines. Through this, food waste, animal manure and waste water, which is usually turned into methane gas, is now producing volatile fatty acids (VFA) instead of methane. Through a catalytic process, two different kind of paraffin is produced which when blended together, 70 percent of that mixture with regular jet fuel meets the regular jet fuel standard.
This method is expected to cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 165% as compared to fossil energy. The team says now they want to widen the scope for the production of the new fuel and also plan to test flights with Southwest Airlines in 2023.
Earlier too, a team of researchers from Oxford University has discovered a way to convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into jet fuel, reported Wired.