Aviation currently contributes about 2.5% of total global carbon emissions, and with air travel demand expected to double by 2040, cutting those emissions has become a pressing priority.
Aviation currently contributes about 2.5% of total global carbon emissions, and with air travel demand expected to double by 2040, cutting those emissions has become a pressing priority. One path forward is sustainable aviation fuel, a low-carbon alternative made from feedstocks such as used cooking oil and crops. But despite its potential, sustainable aviation fuel makes up less than 1% of global jet fuel use, mainly due to high production costs and limited supply.
A new study in Nature Sustainability points to a promising breakthrough: using municipal solid waste as a reliable, low-emission, cost-effective feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel.
Researchers from Tsinghua University and the Harvard-China Project on Energy, Economy, and Environment evaluated municipal solid waste-based jet fuel produced through industrial-scale gasification and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. A life cycle analysis found that jet fuel made from municipal waste could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80-90% compared with conventional jet fuel. The main technical hurdle lies in scaling up gasification systems for widespread use.
Read More at: Harvard School of Engineering
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