A new process transforms food waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that meets industry standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the US developed a thermochemical conversion process that doesn\u2019t require the resultant fuel to be blended with fossil fuels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The development offers solutions to two major problems: food waste and greenhouse gas emissions from aviation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The convenience of modern air travel comes at a high environmental cost, with jet fuel consumption being a driver of greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n
This development could aid the aviation industry\u2019s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo meet the aviation industry\u2019s goals to decarbonize jet fuel, we need many different renewable sources, and agriculture is going to play a critical role in terms of providing the feedstocks,\u201d said Yuanhui Zhang, corresponding author, on October 30. <\/p>\n
Two-step process<\/p>\n
The research team used hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to transform food waste directly into biocrude oil.<\/p>\n
After converting food waste into biocrude oil, the researchers employed a two-stage process to create sustainable aviation fuel<\/a>.<\/p>\n They first removed simple impurities like moisture, ash, and salt.<\/p>\n Following this, catalytic hydrotreating was to eliminate unwanted elements (nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur), leaving behind pure hydrocarbons.\u00a0<\/p>\n This final step uses cobalt molybdenum as the most effective catalyst to refine the oil into pure hydrocarbons that meet jet fuel<\/a> specifications.<\/p>\n The hydrotreating process was optimized by adjusting key variables, including temperature, catalyst and hydrogen loads, and retention time, to perfect the final fuel production stage.<\/p>\n \u201cHTL basically mimics the natural formation of crude oil in the Earth. It uses high heat and pressure to convert wet biomass into a biocrude oil. The goal of this work is to upgrade that biocrude oil into transportation fuels that can go directly into existing energy infrastructure,\u201d said<\/a> Sabrina Summers, lead author.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meets required aviation standards <\/p>\n The resulting fuel was then tested against the rigorous standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).\u00a0<\/p>\n Importantly, the SAF sample met all conventional jet fuel specifications, having successfully cleared both Tier Alpha and Beta prescreening tests.<\/p>\n It achieved this certification without needing any additives or blending with fossil fuels.<\/p>\n This development addresses the massive problem of food waste<\/a>. Globally, more than 30% of all food \u2014 from farm to consumer \u2014 is wasted annually.<\/p>\n The wasted food adds to greenhouse gas emissions when it decomposes in landfills and wastewater treatment plants.<\/p>\n Large-scale recycling of this food waste could promote overall sustainability.<\/p>\n Moreover, the purification and refining process works with many types of biowaste<\/a>, notably food, sewage sludge, algal bloom, swine manure, and agricultural residue.<\/p>\n It could potentially open a new pathway for fuel production.<\/p>\n