An entirely new aviation company has developed a jet propellant derived from human sewage. A laboratory chemist in Gloucestershire has converted the detritus to kerosene.
The research director at Firefly Green Fuels, Dr. Sergio Lima, stated, "We are producing a fuel with a net zero carbon footprint." According to independent experiments, the fuel is virtually identical to conventional fossil jet fuel.
Twenty years ago, the company's CEO, James Hygate, began developing low-carbon energies in Gloucestershire.
He stated that the novel fuel performs identically to paraffin derived from fossil fuels, but "has no fossil carbon; it is a fossil-free fuel."
Approximately 2% of global carbon emissions, which contribute to climate change, are produced by air travel.
Although a minor portion, it is expanding rapidly. Moreover, removing carbon from aviation is among the most difficult challenges. An electric aircraft is currently under development, and a Cotswolds-based company has pledged to operate twelve-passenger flights fuelled by hydrogen by 2026. However, it may take decades, if not years, before entirely new technologies drive mass air travel.
Consequently, the search for environmentally friendly methods to produce paraffin that do not rely on fossil fuels has become a worldwide gold rush.
Twenty years ago, James Hygate initially converted rapeseed oil into "bio-diesel" for automobiles and vehicles on a modest farm situated in Gloucestershire. His organisation, Green Fuels, presently provides apparatus for the production of biodiesel from cooking oil, and his clientele spans the globe. He subsequently began searching for methods to produce green aviation fuel. He explained, "Our goal was to identify a feedstock that was both exceptionally abundant and of negligible value."
They experimented with food refuse, waste oils, and agricultural scraps. They subsequently conducted experiments with human refuse. Dr. Lima, a chemist affiliated with Imperial College London, joined his staff. They collaborated in the development of a method that converts waste into energy. They begin by generating what is known as "bio-crude." It resembles oil in appearance: viscous, black, and gloopy. Chemically, it behaves identically to crude oil. As soon as Dr. Lima observed the outcomes, he was ecstatic.
Bio-kerosene is presently undergoing independent testing by aviation regulators around the globe. Initial findings have validated that the fuel's chemical composition is nearly identical to that of A1 fossil aviation fuel. The Department of Transport in the United Kingdom has granted the team a research grant of £2 million. So that they may prepare a kerosene test instrument in the laboratory. That is extremely unlikely to replace paraffin in airports around the globe.
James Hygate has performed the necessary calculations. The individual estimates that their annual sewage production is sufficient to generate four to five litres of biojet fuel.
Passenger aircraft service between New York and London would require the yearly sewage of 10,000 individuals. Environmental advocates assert that reducing air travel and repurposing crops for energy or food production is preferable to producing aviation fuel.
They are more in favour of the sewage-based fuel because, as stated by Cait Hewitt, policy director of the Aviation Environment Federation, "human waste is perhaps the one form of garbage that society cannot avoid generating entirely." Fundraising is currently underway for the establishment of a full-scale demonstrator facility in the United Kingdom.
