Catalytic Process With Lignin Could Enable 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Author: Eurasia Review
Researchers at three institutions - the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Washington State University - report success in using lignin as a path toward a drop-in 100% sustainable aviation fuel. Lignin makes up the rigid parts of the cell walls of plants. Other parts of plants are used for biofuels, but lignin has been largely overlooked because of the difficulties in breaking it down chemically and converting it into useful products. The paper points to the need to use sustainable sources for jet fuel as the airline industry has pledged to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Airlines consumed 106 billion gallons of jet fuel globally during 2019, and that number is expected to more than double by 2050. Accomplishing the industry’s goal of achieving net carbon neutrality during that same period will require a massive deployment of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) with high blend limits with conventional fuel. Jet fuel is a blended mixture of different hydrocarbon molecules, including aromatics and cycloalkanes. Current commercialized technologies do not produce those components to qualify for a 100% SAF.