Canadian researchers looking to make aviation more environmentally sustainable
Author: Elizabeth Howell
Louis Fradette, a chemical engineering professor at Polytechnique Montréal who has worked in the area of carbon capture for many years, is running the new consortium-funded platform at ParaChem. The aim is to produce hydrocarbon for uses ranging from clothing to plastic to converting carbon dioxide into aviation fuel. Already he can capture up to 10 tons of greenhouse gases per day. But he said more government funding is needed in order for the ecosystem of sustainable fuel suppliers to progress as quickly as possible. “We need more breakthrough technologies, and we need more ideas,” Dr. Fradette said. Dr. Kearns is also founding director of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Aeronautics (WISA), which has been looking at numerous ways of cutting back on fuel since its inception late last year. WISA has three pillars of sustainability research: environmental sustainability to reduce the negative impacts of aviation’s carbon footprint, social sustainability to increase equity, diversity, inclusion and appropriate workplace safety training, and economic sustainability to help the aviation field remain competitive.