A UK company announces that it is capable of making jet fuel from… human waste.
While the whole world wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the question of the future of aviation is increasingly being asked. How can we continue to fly planes when we want to achieve carbon neutrality? While some have been working on electric planes for several years, others, like the company Firefly Green Fuels, are taking more surprising paths, with the development of new types of fuel.
An extremely low carbon footprint
Firefly Green Fuels could well be on the cusp of a big breakthrough. The British company, which received a grant of 2 million pounds from the Department of Transport in 2021, announces that it has developed aircraft fuel made from human waste discharged into sewers.
Using a process known as hydrothermal liquefaction, it uses wastewater collected directly from water treatment companies to transform it into crude oil. A method that would work, according to tests carried out by independent regulators. The latter in fact claim that the synthetic product from Firefly Green Fuels would be almost similar to standard Jet A-1 kerosene. The icing on the cake, according to BBCit would also have a carbon footprint 90% lower than kerosene!
Tests planned for 2028
Suffice it to say that the company is now in a hurry to move on to the commercial phase. It has already established a partnership with the low-cost airline Wizz Air, which operates flights across Europe, to supply it in the future with this new generation fuel. The first flights of this type are planned for 2028, in just under five years.
In addition to being obviously more ecological, Firefly Green Fuels’ fuel would simply be inexhaustible, unlike hydrocarbons. Because as the boss of the company James Hygate reminds us, waste of human origin is a “ an abundant and cheap raw material [qui] will never run out “. Could the future be in the toilet?
Source : Engadget
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