MIT News, (2023, August 23). Making aviation fuel from biomass. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from https://news.mit.edu/2023/making-aviation-fuel-biomass-0823
A new discovery has been made by researchers at MIT. Professor Yuriy Román-Leshkov along with a few collaborators have made a critical component of aviation fuel from lignin. This discovery could help make jet fuel 100% sustainable. There is a major obstacle that is halting the development of sustainable aviation fuels. These fuels have to meet certain standards before they can be used in an airplane engine. The team was able to use the lignin to create a jet fuel that meets the requirements for use in a jet engine.
This article shows that there are multiple ways that sustainable jet fuel can be made with positive impacts. I agree that this discovery can bridge the gap between regular jet fuel and sustainable jet fuel by completing all the requirements. I appreciate just how dedicated the researchers are to creating a way for sustainable fuels to be used in jet engines.
Jets produce tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Finding a fuel to decrease the amount would be great for the environment. What exactly is so special about lignin that helps act as a fuel?
This will be a huge breakthrough if we are able to consistently be able to use biofuel in planes and other vehicles like that. We would be able to cut down the amount of carbon dioxide realized by a huge amount. What would be the most effective ways to do this?
Lignin seems like a very interesting solution, but it all really depends on the efficiency of producing it. This seems like how it would be hard to manufacture on a large scale, and it makes me wonder how they plan to do so when you need a very advanced process to extract the lignin from plants.