A sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that meets industry standards without relying on fossil fuel blends has been formulated by researchers from Washington State University and the University of Illinois to help the aviation industry meet its ambitious goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Discarded food from processing plants need not be fodder for landfills. The scraps can be converted into bio-crude oil via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL).

“HTL basically mimics the natural formation of crude oil in the Earth. It uses high heat and pressure to convert wet biomass into a biocrude oil. The goal of this work is to upgrade that biocrude oil into transportation fuels that can go directly into existing energy infrastructure,” explained the researchers.

Catalytic hydrotreating technology is next applied to eliminate nitrogen, sulfur, salts and other impurities and oxygen. A cobalt-molybdenum catalyst was demonstrated effective for refining the oil into the specific hydrocarbons required for aviation fuel. What remains are the specific hydrocarbons required to make jet fuel.

The finished product passed tests set by the American Society for Testing and Materials and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, meeting all the technical standards for commercial jet fuel. The strategy described in Nature Communications yielded SAF that meets industry requirements without needing to introduce any special additives.