A lifecycle assessment conducted by Ohio State University researchers concludes that a common farm weed could be the source of a jet fuel with fewer production-related environmental impacts than other biofuels.

Cultivation of pennycress, often referred to as stinkweed, requires less fertilizer and pesticides than other plants grown to make renewable jet fuel. The crop also requires fewer farm operations, such as soil tilling, than other potential biofuel crops, reducing associated environmental costs.

An energy allocation analysis detailed in Applied Energy determined that about half as much energy is needed to produce jet fuel from pennycress as is required to produce jet fuel from canola or sunflowers. Pennycress oil production used about a third as much energy as soybean oil production, and the energy needed for conversion into jet fuel was about the same as that used to produce fuel from the flowering plant camelina.

The energy efficiency of pennycress versus other biofuel crops for jet fuel production. Source: Seyed Hashem Mousavi-Avval and AjayShah/Ohio State University

In addition to its superior energy efficiency characteristics, hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel produced from pennycress also has fewer greenhouse gas emissions than that conventionally sourced from fossil fuels.