Check out the weirdest thing that can be recycled into biofuel for aircraft by 2050
Concerns about climate change and environmental pollution have led to the discovery of biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels after solar and wind energy. They not only offer a sustainable solution for decarbonizing hard-to-electrify transport sectors like aviation and shipping but can also be used for other industrial needs. Although aviation accounts for 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, bizarre options ranging from fat to sugar and even waste to create biofuels for aircraft are being explored.
Recently, Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson peered into the camera, grinned, and did a double thumbs-up as the first commercial airliner crossed the Atlantic Ocean powered completely by biofuel.
The Boeing 787 was powered by plant sugars and waste fats, which is a form of sustainable aviation fuel or SAF. Having said that, this may not represent the future of aviation since the biomass required to make biofuel can come from a variety of sources including food waste and even algae.
The issue is not with the release of CO2 when biomass is burnt since it is a renewable source of energy. However, the problem is the volume of biomass required to power an industry with a growing number of passengers that needs a lot of fuel. According to a study published in August, you'd need 125 million hectares (482,000 sq miles) of land, roughly equivalent to the surface area of the states of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Louisiana combined, to power commercial airplanes.
Even with that one would not be able to make enough fuel for all the aircraft in the world. "What they're doing is quite important, they're just demonstrating that the flight is perfectly safe, there are no problems with the fuel," says David Lee, a professor of atmospheric science at Manchester Metropolitan University, who studies the impact of aviation on the climate, and who was a co-author of the paper that investigated the feasibility of transitioning to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF.)
According to the International Air Transport Association, an estimated 450 billion liters of SAF is required by 2050, but only 300 million liters were produced in 2022. Reports also say how ramping up production can be very difficult since there simply isn't enough land available.
As the requirement for land and fuel continues to grow across the globe, there will be a need for another 70-80 million hectares of cropland by 2030, according to estimates by management consultants McKinsey & Company. Such a vast area must be bigger than the entire state of Texas, as per BBC.
Some alternatives to SAF include hydrogen fuel as well as electrification, both of which have not proved to be viable for commercial flights. A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic says, "We are committed to achieving Net Zero 2050 and have set interim targets on our pathway to get there, including 10% Sustainable Aviation Fuel by 2030." According to her, the 100% SAF flight from London to New York, which relied entirely on biowaste, was an important step on the path to boost the use of eco-friendly fuels in the coming years.