Airline - Time to start reducing the commercial aviation carbon footprint with an eco-friendly alternative
Modern aircraft design relies entirely on the properties of current aviation fuels – a hydrocarbon (kerosene) derived overwhelmingly from crude oil.
It is highly unlikely that any technology will be able to replace the kerosene fuelled gas turbine for commercial aircraft propulsion. It has been suggested that hydrogen could be used as an aviation fuel for large aircraft. Indeed, this has been demonstrated. However, this radically alters the design and efficiency of the aircraft. An aircraft fuelled by liquid hydrogen is a possibility but it is extremely unattractive both from a design and operational standpoint. It would be a significant task to develop and deploy hydrogen fuelled aircraft. The industry currently has no plans to do this.
Synthetic kerosene can be manufactured from bio-mass, natural gas or coal or by the AFS fuels process. The first of these suffers from the sustainability questions that attach to bio-fuel. The next two, although proven, are fossil fuel based. It is broadly considered that air transport will, arguably, be the last sector to decarbonise.
AFS fuels in a kerosene form will be the permanent answer to this problem.
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Sustainable Transport
The team at Air Fuel Synthesis believe there is a strong case, based on energy security and ambitious carbon reduction targets, to develop a drop in, near carbon neutral, aviation fuel using low carbon electricity, hydrogen, and atmospheric carbon dioxide.