Eco-Friendly Biofuels Made from Food Waste Could Cut 'Flight Shame' among Air Travelers

July 19, 2019

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by Jeremy Deaton (NBC News) “Biofuels are what’s going to save us when it comes to aviation." -- ... The airline industry has expressed concern that flight shame will put a dent in their bottom line, and they are taking steps to use less fuel — packing more passengers into fewer flights, for instance, or using high-tech navigation systems to make sure planes take the shortest route to their destination.

These changes will help curb pollution, experts say, but the best way to clean up planes is to switch to fuel made from plants.

“Biofuels are what’s going to save us when it comes to aviation,” said Corinne Scown, a scientist and engineer at the Joint BioEnergy Institute at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Emeryville, California. “There just aren’t a lot of other good options.”

Commercial aircraft run on kerosene-based fuel, but it is possible to make jet fuel from vegetable oil, algae, rotting fruit — even used diapers. Biofuels could cut carbon pollution from airplanes by upwards of 60 percent, potentially helping them pollute as little as buses and trains.

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Costs will fall as airlines buy more biofuel, spurring suppliers to build more refineries near major airports, creating a pipeline for cheaper plant-based fuel. Before that happens, however, suppliers will need to secure a steady supply of raw material.

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Currently, many airlines, including KLM, use biofuel made from used cooking oil. While used cooking oil is cheap and relatively easy to refine, “there is a relatively limited amount of that compared to what the need is," Jim McMillan, chief engineer at the National Bioenergy Center in Golden, Colorado, said.

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To solve this problem, biofuel suppliers are starting to make fuel from cheap, abundant organic waste. That could mean waste from farms, such as corn leaves, wheat stalks and almond hulls. Or it could mean trash found in city dumps, such as paper, cardboard and leftover food.

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In addition to making fuel from food, suppliers could also turn forest debris into biofuel. In California, officials are setting controlled fires to burn the dry underbrush that leaves forests susceptible to wildfires. Rather than burn that underbrush, they could use the dead timber to power planes, Scown, of the Joint BioEnergy Institute, said.

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While biofuels can still perform in frigid temperatures at high altitudes, “battery technologies don't do very well at very, very low temperatures,” Scown said. Batteries are also very heavy.

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In three to seven years, he said, passengers could board flights that are powered by a blend that is 50 percent biofuels. And in 10 to 15 years, airlines may be flying planes that are powered entirely by biofuels.

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“Our vision is that every time you get on a plane that’s fueled with a biofuel, you are not only not emitting fossil carbon, but you are diverting organics from a landfill or helping to avoid unnecessary wildfires,” she added. READ MORE

Biofuels, carbon offsets power carbon-neutral flights for Delta (Biomass Magazine)

Experts push back on growing 'flight shame' movement (E&E News)