Alabama NewsCenter — University of Alabama researchers hope to spur adoption of greener jet fuel

By Adam Jones
University of Alabama

Engineering researchers at the University of Alabama are leading a project to demonstrate an innovative method to create jet fuel from plants, helping the airline industry meet goals for using a renewable fuel source and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Supported by $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, the effort hopes to advance a catalyst containing three different metals used to chemically convert ethanol into butene that can be further modified to produce the same aviation fuel that currently originates from crude oil. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) would counteract a plane’s emissions of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) through the CO2-consuming plants needed to make the fuel.

“In order to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from the aviation industry, the carbon footprint of the fuel has to be minimized,” said James Harris, UA assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering and project lead. “For sustainable aviation fuel to scale up from limited use, it needs to be processed much more energy- and cost-efficiently, and our project is a key step toward producing jet fuel from renewable sources.”

The AlabamaWx Weather Blog gladly brings you an excerpt of this article through a partnership with the Alabama NewsCenter. You can see the complete post featuring all the associated images, videos, and links by clicking HERE.

Category: ALL POSTS, Partner News Stories