Airlines rely on cooking oil to eliminate emissions by 2050

Earlier this month, a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington completed a 600-mile journey, creating a short history of aviation history, with the airline hoping to be the first leg of a journey into a greener future. Will prove.

First, one of the two engines of the 737 Max 8 was powered by a specially used fuel from cooking oil and supplied extra fat from beef, pork and chicken. According to Carrier, refined, fuel at a plant in Southern California produces about 80% less emissions than conventional jet fuel. Biofuels have been blended with conventional fuels in the past, but United Airlines says it was never used automatically in commercial flight engines.

The Chicago Carrier has taken off to mark the progress it has made toward its goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is a goal shared by the International Air Transport Association, a business group representing the world’s airlines.

But achieving the lofty goal of eliminating aviation emissions – which account for 3% to 4% of the world’s carbon emissions – will not be easy. Aviation experts and academics say this will require tax breaks or grants and large government investments in the form of ground-level technological advances, such as the development of hybrid or all-electric jet aircraft.

Meanwhile, airlines that want to use more low-emission sustainable aviation fuel will have to pay four times as much as they pay for conventional fuel, which could mean higher air fares for everyone.

“It’s not clear how we got there,” said Jane Brookner, professor and chair of the economics department at the UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies. “Maybe by 2050, it’s possible if a bunch of things come together.”

Not all airline executives believe that aviation emissions can be eliminated by 2050.

“I think we’re making a lot of promises that we can’t keep,” said Alex Wilcox, chief executive and co-founder of JSX, an independent airline in Dallas. Said during the discussion. The beach.

Airlines say that effort – even if the goal cannot be achieved – makes good business sense.

United spokeswoman Maddie King said: “There are people who want to fly with an airline that reflects their beliefs and values. “There are clients who are very interested in sustaining their lifestyle.”

Some so-called flights may be operated out of shame, with environmentalists blaming the carbon footprint of their air travel. It’s a feeling that is gaining popularity, thanks in part to the efforts of Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg.

Another incentive for airlines is the fear that governments will start making emissions cuts mandatory through the use of fines or taxes. It has already begun in Europe, where the European Union has proposed an environmental plan that, among other changes, would improve the bloc’s export trade program and for the first time impose a tax on shipping and aviation fuels.

A United Nations-initiated survey of 1,200 chief executives worldwide found that 72% believe stability is an immediate priority.

The word “net zero” is somewhat misleading. IATA makes it clear in its literature that only 65% ​​of the target can be achieved using sustainable aviation fuel, with an additional 13% coming from the use of new technology to make aircraft lighter, more fuel efficient and aerodynamic. Over the past few years, many airlines have added “winglets” – vertical extensions of wingtips on aircraft – to improve fuel efficiency by about 5%.

Of the remaining emissions deductions, the lion’s share, about 19%, will have to come from “offset” or “carbon capture” technology. In other words, airlines are paying a third party to pay for deforestation or protection of wetlands, or to invest in state-of-the-art carbon sequestration by collecting it before it is released from works such as coal-fired power plants. The aviation exit must be completed. , Chemical plant or biomass power plant and its underground storage. United Airlines says it expects to reach its goal without offset.

Scientists and some environmentalists are aware of how effective offsets are in achieving their goals.

According to experts, to complete the transition, airlines will eventually need to abandon combustion engines and switch to alternative technologies, such as hybrid or all-electric aircraft. IATA envisions switching to such technology sometime in the 2030s.

However, experts say that batteries should be much lighter and more powerful before providing propulsion for commercial aircraft. In the short term, an electric plane may be possible for short flights, less than 200 miles, but the development of batteries that power a transcontinental or transatlantic flight could take decades.

“The road between where we are now and where we are now needs a lot of innovation,” said Jean Gabolis, chief executive of World Energy, a Boston biofuel energy company.

For now, the biggest challenge is to produce low-emissions, sustainable jet fuel that can be used in existing commercial jets without modification to power the world’s airlines.

According to the IATA, the world’s refineries now produce approximately 26.4 million gallons per year of low-emissions, sustainable aviation fuel. According to the US Bureau of Transportation Statistics, this is only a fraction of the 18.3 billion gallons of fuel burned by US carriers in 2019 alone.

A proposal in President Biden’s “Build Back Better” plan calls for a fuel tax credit that could increase production of sustainable aviation fuel by 3 billion gallons a year by 2030 – still a fraction of the fuel that airlines use. Needed in the next decade.

“There is no question that this is a challenge,” Gabeolis said. “It’s all about scale.”

World Energy’s Paramount facility now has the capacity to process 15 million gallons of cooking oil and animal fat per year into sustainable aviation fuel. The fuel was used at the United Nations Exhibition Flight on December 1 and is used on JetBlue flights departing from Los Angeles International Airport. The company is now investing $ 1.5 billion to modernize the facility, enabling it to produce up to 370 million gallons a year.

“Achieving Net Zero by 2050 will be a very ambitious goal where we are now,” said Gabolis. “Do I think it’s possible? Absolutely. “

Neste, a Finnish company that claims to be the world’s largest producer of renewable diesel and jet fuel, produces 34 million gallons a year, with plans to reach 515 million gallons by mid-2023.

“This is an innovative industry,” said Jeremy Bains, president of Neste US. “Petroleum producers have been in it for 100 years.”

Currently, biofuel producers are relying on used cooking oil, animal fat, Jatropha plant, algae and other so-called feedstocks, but experts say refineries do not have access to the materials needed to produce billions of gallons of aviation fuel. Pure-Zero is required to reach the goal.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, about 3 billion gallons of cooking oil is collected annually from hotels and restaurants across the country, but much of it ends up in landfills or sewers. Industry experts say that one gallon of sustainable aviation fuel requires about eight gallons of cooking oil. This means that even though every drop of cooking oil has been collected today and converted into jet fuel, it will still not be enough to fuel all existing flights.

Joshua S., a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Dayton University. “Cooking oil is the most widely used cooking oil in the world,” he said.

Industry experts say that in order to motivate private companies to increase stocks of used cooking oil, animal fats and other feedstocks, governments may need to provide tax breaks or grants to make it profitable.

“It’s possible, but you need encouragement to get it right,” Brookner said.