WEBINARS: Sustainable Aviation Fuel: First Friday Research Highlights --- May 4, 2018

Join us in a series of 40 minute lunchtime talks to highlight the research areas key to supporting the creation of the UK sustainable aviation fuel supply chain. Aimed at businesses, researchers, policy makers and investors, the research programme will support the development of collaborations and inform stakeholders of UK’s innovative research capability.

Running on the first Friday of the month, you will hear from a selection of themed talks followed by an opportunity to ask questions and stimulate dialogue. Aimed at businesses, researchers, policy makers and investors, the research programme will support the development of collaborations and inform stakeholders of UK’s innovative research capability.

First Friday Research Highlights are being delivered by KTN’s Sustainable Aviation Fuel Special Interest Group (SAF SIG), a two year programme sponsored by Innovate UK, Department for Transport and Sustainable Aviation. You can find out more about the SAF SIG and receive email and newsletter alerts on funding, news and events relating to SAF at www.safsig.co.uk.

Follow us on Twitter @KTN_SAFSIG and join the LinkedIn Group
A list of speakers per date can be found below. Check the website for updates.

Friday 2 March 2018: Feedstocks

Peter Clark from KTN will welcome:

Michele Stanley, SAMS

Is Seaweed a good source of biomass for bioenergy? The large brown macroalgae, or kelp, are perhaps the greatest potential source of marine biofuel. Immersed in seawater, these fast growing macroalgae have no need for internal transport systems for nutrients and water, which saves energy, hence they are naturally highly productive and have a high potential to fix carbon. During this presentation, some of the pros and cons of using algal biomass as a means of producing bioenergy from the sea will be presented

Simon McQueen Mason, University of York

Breaking down the walls: Woody plant biomass, such as the straw from cereal crops, has the potential to supply fermentation feedstock for sustainable low carbon fuel production. Producing cost-effective sugars for fermentation from such biomass is challenging. I will discuss my group’s research on improving the feedstock quality of straw through crop genomics and on the discovery of new enzymes for biomass conversion from wood-eating animals.

Iain Donnison, Institute of Biological, Environmental & Rural Sciences (IBERS), Aberystwyth University

Iain will be covering: Feedstock platforms including perennial ryegrass, Miscanthus and reed canary grass; Requirements for security of supply and sustainability of feedstocks, and for feedstocks to be matched to end use requirements; Challenges for unlocking feedstocks, including R&D or infrastructure requirements, etc and Impact of CAP reform post Brexit and arising opportunities in the UK for energy crops

Friday 6 April 2018: Jet fuel specification & testing

Simon Blakey, The University of Sheffield

Novel Fuel Certification – Creating the Opportunities for Increased Sustainable Fuel Use: The specification of fuel for gas turbines from conventional, fossil fuel sources is tightly controlled by a number of collaborative specifications around the world. The approval of any fuel derived from synthetic or non-conventional sources is required to go through a more stringent set of testing which is well controlled by ASTM D4054 process. The process is however slow, and in light of the increased experience in approving fuels from a range of sources over the last 15 years, the sector is looking to improve the speed at which fuels can be approved, should there be no technical objections. The talk will provide an overview of the current streamlining activity and an update on research into the technical suitability of aviation fuels.

Chris Lewis, CLFC Ltd

Simon Christie, The University of Manchester

Friday 4 May 2018: Low carbon technologies

Catherine Mort from KTN will welcome:

Eileen Yu, Newcastle University

Liquid Fuel and Bioenergy Supply from CO2 Reduction (LifesCO2R): Researchers at Newcastle University are working on an innovative technology that could convert carbon dioxide into a clean fuel, reducing the amount of the harmful greenhouse gas released into the atmosphere. Funded through an aware from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) , the project aims to develop a process utilising energy from wastewater to convert waste CO2 captured from industrial processes and use it as a renewable feedstock for fuel production. The ground-breaking technology is based on the use of energy from biological and electro-chemical sources. First, the organic matter is wastewater is broken down by microbes, releasing generating a small amount of electric energy. This energy is then used to convert CO2 to formate – a derivative of formic acid. This then goes through a SimCell reactor – a specialised reactor containing micro-organisms, where formate transformed to alkanes, a liquid fuel that the research team hope could be used for transport / aviation, heating and energy storage.

Tony Bridgewater, Aston University

Technoeconomics of bio-aviation fuels: There are a wide range of process routes for producing aviation fuels from renewable resources. The processes, efficiencies and costs are reported and compared including economies of scale and learning effects.

Patricia Thornley, SUPERGEN Bioenergy Hub

Low carbon aviation biofuel development: the Supergen Bioenergy hub: The Supergen bioenergy hub aims to bring together industry, academia and other stakeholders to focus on the research and knowledge challenges associated with increasing the contribution of UK bioenergy to meet strategic environmental targets in a coherent, sustainable and cost-effective manner. This presentation will outline the hub’s current work relevant to sustainable aviation and provide a platform for discussing how this matches with identified information gaps.

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