The first commercial flights with the use of biofuels date back to 2011 but there are still no structurally more ecological ways for jet fuels. However, this situation could change thanks to a British company that has created a low-cost, high-performance bio-fuel formula specifically for jet engines. Amanda Saint talks about how this Biojet works and the impact that the discovery could have on the aviation industry.
We are talking about Green Fuels Research (GFR), founded in 2013 to develop new technologies in the field of ecological fuels and alternative energies. The new patented fuel is called Biojet and is produced thanks to a simple technological process that will make it possible to improve the environmental performance of the world's airlines, cutting carbon dioxide emissions. Not only. It will also allow biodiesel producers to modernize their plants for this new biofuel for jets.
Indeed, Biojet overcomes the main obstacle of the use of "Fatty Acid Methyl Ester" (FAME) in aviation fuels, ie low temperature performance. Although FAME is a safe base of biofuels for heating, power supply and for the automotive sector, until now it has not been possible to make widespread use in the aeronautical field because some of its components tend to "gel" and become waxy (gelling and waxing) at temperatures below zero. GFR's Biojet manufacturing process solved the problem by fractionating the FAME base to remove the components responsible for gelling at low temperatures. Another advantage is that the production process does not generate waste but only by-products which generally have a commercial value and can be reused.
For the production process, GFR has used Camelina sativa seed oil, but there will be some flexibility on the choice of the base component once on the market. The good news is that used cooking oil or UCO) have been identified as a potential source for producing commercial quantities of fuel through this process.
So far the Biojet has been tested in the laboratory but the results are very promising. It has met, and in some cases exceeded, all major ASTM requirements for jet fuels and is now ready for the transition from pilot to full-scale production and then commercialization. If the fuel performs as expected, it seems likely that we won't have long to wait for greener fuel to become a reality on commercial flights.
This means that the aviation industry, which contributes (despite its bad reputation) 2% to the annual global production of noxious gases, will be able to improve its performance and further reduce CO2 emissions. According to research published by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), biofuels derived from biomass such as algae, jatropha and camelina are able to reduce the environmental impact of aviation fuels by up to 80% over their life cycle . This means that if by 2020 just 6 percent of the fuel used in commercial aviation came from biofuels, the industry would reduce its overall carbon footprint by 5 percent. As a result, flying would become one of the greenest forms of travel.
