Page 70 - World Airnews Magazine April 2021

COLUMN

TURNING TO GREEN

By Vikram Mittal

Hydrogen offers numer- With these challenges in
ous benefits over tradi- mind, IATA is focusing on

tional jet fuel, especially short term gains with the
n a normal year, the that the only by-product of development of sustainable

Iaviati on industry burns combustion is water. aviation fuels (SAF).

65 billion gallons of jet A kilogramme of hydro- Similar to biofuels used

fuel producing 750 million gen has three times the in the automotive sector,

tons of carbon dioxide. energy of a kilogramme SAF is not oil-based. While
Although this carbon of jet fuel. With these biofuels are typically

footprint is a quarter the benefits in mind, Airbus derived from corn or
size of the automotive recently announced that sugarcane, SAF is produced

it is developing a concept
industry, it is still quite aircraft, termed the ZEROe from used cooking oils, ani-

substantial. airplane, which will be mal fat, and organic waste
Moreover, the automo- powered completely by material. These materials
tive industry has taken hydrogen and a prototype allow SAF to not compete

large steps to reducing will be developed by 2035. with agriculture for food

their footprint as the Unfortunately, significant production.

industry shifts to electric challenges still exist for Since SAF is derived

vehicles. hydrogen. First, given from organic matter, much
However, the safety the volatile nature of of the carbon dioxide

and weight constraints of hydrogen, safety is a released from combustion

aircraft make it difficult to key issue. It must be is offset by carbon dioxide

implement similar changes. stored such that it is as absorbed by the organic
The Green New Deal goes stable as jet fuel, which material while alive. Sever-
so far as to state that large only combusts in the al companies are working

portions of the aviation presence of flames and to mass produce SAF for

industry need to be dis- high pressures. In turn, the aviation industry, with

placed by high-speed rail this causes the hydrogen BP and Shell each citing

service to stave off climate storage systems to be that their SAF can achieve
change. voluminous and heavy, an 80 percent smaller
Although it will be with most storage tanks carbon footprint than

difficult for the aviation in- being ten times heavier traditional jet fuel.

dustry to cut their carbon than the hydrogen inside it. At present commercial

footprint, the International Currently hydrogen is aircraft limit the amount

Air Transport Association produced from methane, of SAF in the fuel blend to

has committed to capping resulting in a carbon 50 percent, with several

their carbon footprint at footprint comparable to airlines - including Japa-
the 2020 level, while creat- jet fuel. Many countries, nese Airlines, Qantas, and

ing a substantial reduction including the UK, Norway, United Airlines - flying with

by 2050. Japan, and France, are these blends.

The aviation industry has building hydrogen pro- Boeing has committed

rallied around sustain- duction facilities that use to certifying that their jets

ability and is currently renewable energy sources can handle running com-
developing the requisite to electrolyze water to pletely on SAF by 2030.
technology for achieving produce hydrogen. One promising tech-
these goals. The largest hurdle is that nique for driving down the
The key to sustainabil- aircrafts cannot readily cost of SAF is to produce

ity is replacing petro- use hydrogen. And so a it from algae. Another

leum-based jet fuel with a hydrogen-powered aircraft option is termed solar jet

more sustainable alterna- would be phased in to re- fuel, which is produced by

tive. The likely long-term place conventional aircraft. concentrating sunlight on

candidate for replacing jet This undertaking would carbon dioxide and water
fuel is hydrogen. span decades, given the vapor to synthesize into a
25,000 hydrocarbon, which can be

aircraft refined into jet fuel. Q
in the

world Article shortened - cour
coupled tesy: Vikram Mittal is

with an assistant professor
their at the United States
average Military Academy in the
30-year Department of Systems
lifespan. Engineering.
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