Gloucestershire firm developing jet fuel from human sewage
Jet fuel from sewage. That’s the idea being developed by one Gloucestershire firm, currently in the running for a government grant.
Green Fuels Research (GFR), with its headquarters in Berkeley, is a pioneer in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Its FIREFLY project has been selected as one of eight industry-led projects shortlisted to receive a share of £15 million in the Department for Transport’s ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition.
9 April 2021: Hydrogen-electric powered aircraft firm backed by Bill Gates moves to Gloucestershire
Backed by Bill Gates, millions of pounds of government money, and GFirst LEP, a firm developing the world’s first commercial zero-carbon passenger plane is moving to the Cotswolds and creating jobs.
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ZeroAvia, which has won £12 million of government funding to develop its ‘world’s leading’ innovations, has announced it is to open a major facility at Cotswold Airport at Kemble.
The UK-based Anglo American company will use Kemble to develop its HyFlyer II project, a hydrogen-electric powered aircraft which emits only water vapor during flight.
It is a move predicted to create 30 new jobs on top of its existing 20-strong team as it pursues its quest to build ‘the future of carbon zero air travel’.
Sergey Kiselev, vice president for Europe of ZeroAvia, said: ‘We were very impressed with what Cotswold Airport, local talent and support can offer the company as a base for the delivery of the HyFlyer II project.
‘It’s a beautiful part of the country and we’re looking forward to seeing more of it from the air as we take zero emission aviation towards commercial adoption with this project.’
Chris Lau, head of inward investment at GFirst LEP, which together with Cotswold District Council is supporting the business, said: ‘ZeroAvia’s investment is a testament to Gloucestershire’s strong expertise and track record in the aerospace sector.
‘We look forward to supporting ZeroAvia in creating highly skilled engineering jobs while spearheading innovation in clean growth and future air travel technology.’
Suzannah Harvey, chief executive officer of Cotswold Airport, said: ‘ZeroAvia are a huge asset to Cotswold Airport and the region.’
Rob Weaver, chief executive at Cotswold District Council, said: ‘Attracting a business at the cutting edge of environmental technology is exciting.’
According to Geekwire.com, Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures helped raise $21.4 million to help the business achieve its goals, then in April raised a further £24.3 million.
Involved in the fundraising rounds have been Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s Horizons Ventures, British Airways, Ecosystems Integrity Fund, Summa Equity, Shell Ventures and SystemIQ.
ZeroAvia forecasts deliver of its first market-ready 19-seat hydrogen-electric powered aircraft by 2023.
Its goal is to be ‘flight-ready for commercial 500-mile trips’ (the equivalent of a round trip from London to Edinburgh) by that date.
The business has already achieved the world-first short flight of a commercial-grade six-seater hydrogen-electric aircraft last September.
A new aviation company has developed a type of jet fuel made entirely from human sewage.
Chemists at a lab in Gloucestershire have turned the waste into kerosene.
James Hygate, Firefly Green Fuels CEO, said: “We wanted to find a really low-value feedstock that was highly abundant. And of course poo is abundant.”
Independent tests by international aviation regulators found it was nearly identical to standard fossil jet fuel.
Firefly’s team worked with Cranfield University to examine the fuel’s life cycle carbon impact. It concluded that Firefly’s fuel has a 90% lower carbon footprint than standard jet fuel.
Mr Hygate, who has been developing low-carbon fuels in Gloucestershire for 20 years, said although the new fuel was chemically just like fossil-based kerosene, it “has no fossil carbon, it’s a fossil-free fuel”.
“Of course energy would be used (in production), but when looking at the fuel’s life cycle, a 90% saving is mind-blowing, so yes, we have to use energy but it is much lower compared to the production of fossil fuels,” he added.
Across the world, flying contributes around 2% of global carbon emissions [i] , which contribute to climate change.
[i] https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/aviationIt is a small fraction, but growing fast. And taking carbon out of aviation is one of the hardest challenges.
Electric planes are being developed, with a company in the Cotswolds [a] promising hydrogen-electric powered flights for a dozen passengers by 2026.
[a] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-67559550But it will be years, decades maybe, before mass air travel will be powered by completely new technology.
So finding new, greener ways to make kerosene without using fossil fuels has become a global gold rush.
On a small farm in Gloucestershire, Mr Hygate began turning rapeseed oil into ‘bio-diesel’ for cars and trucks [b] 20 years ago.
[b] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7565299.stmHis company, Green Fuels, now sells equipment to turn cooking oil into biodiesel, and has clients all over the world.
Then he started looking for ways to make green jet fuel. They tried waste oils, waste food, even agricultural scraps.
Then they experimented on human waste.
He teamed up with a chemist from Imperial College, London, Dr Sergio Lima.
Together, they developed a process which transforms poo into power.
First, they create what they call “bio-crude”.
It looks like oil: thick, black, gloopy. Most importantly, it behaves like crude oil chemically.
Dr Lima, who is also research director at Firefly Green Fuels, said: “What we are producing here is a fuel which is net zero.”
When Dr Lima first saw the results, he was thrilled.
“This is so exciting because it was produced from a sustainable feedstock, to which all of us are contributing.”
The scientist showed me round his lab, including a mini version of the huge fractional distillation columns that tower over oil refineries.
His one does the same thing. The liquid is heated and then the gases are distilled at precise temperatures to obtain the right ‘cut’ for different fuel.
Drop by drop, a new clear liquid settles in the collection pipes.
“This is our bio fuel,” he says with a smile.
“Seeing the final fuel is something amazing.”
The bio-kerosene is now being tested independently at the DLR Institute of Combustion Technology at the German Aerospace Center, working with Washington State University.
Further future testing will also be carried out by the UK SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) clearing House, based at University of Sheffield.
First results have confirmed the fuel has near-identical chemical composition to A1 fossil jet fuel.
The UK Department of Transport has awarded the team a £2m research grant.
Sustainable fuel ‘critical’ to decarbonise aviation
So they can make a test tube of kerosene in the lab.
That is a long way from replacing kerosene in the world’s airports.
Mr Hygate has done his maths. Each human, he calculates, makes enough sewage in a year to produce 4-5 litres of bio jet fuel.
To fly a passenger jet from London to New York would need the annual sewage of 10,000 people.
And another 10,000 to come back.
Put another way, the UK’s total sewage supply would meet about 5% of the country’s total aviation fuel demand.
It may sound small, but he insists: “That’s pretty exciting.”
“There’s a 10% sustainable aviation fuel requirement, that’s a legal mandate. And we could meet half of that with poo.”
Fuel made from waste oils, corn oils or other non-fossil sources are called Sustainable Aviation Fuels.
They emit the same amount of carbon dioxide from the aircraft, but since the plants that originally made the oil captured CO2 while they grow, experts consider this an 80-90% reduction on fossil fuel carbon emissions.
Environmental campaigners insist that people just need to fly less, and use crops for food or energy production, not making jet fuel.
They are more supportive of the sewage-based fuel, because “human waste is perhaps the one form of rubbish that society really can’t avoid producing”, as Cait Hewitt, policy director of the Aviation Environment Federation put it.
Nonetheless, the International Energy Agency [c] has said Sustainable Aviation Fuels are “critical to decarbonising aviation”.
[c] https://www.iea.org/energy-system/transport/aviationTo show what is possible, Sir Richard Branson recently flew from London to New York [d] on a flight entirely powered by fuel made from waste oils and corn waste products.
[d] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67548961But today only 0.1% of aviation fuel is “sustainable”.
Mr Hygate’s target of 5% looks quite big in comparison.
Also he is using a feedstock nobody else wants, but is universal.
“Although it’s been developed here in the south west of the UK,” he says, “it’s a global opportunity”.
The company is now raising funds to build a full-scale demonstrator factory in the UK.
Mr Hygate explained: “The opportunities in very populous cities are enormous. The amount of fuel we can create is huge.”
Source: BBC, SoGlos, Dezeen-Image
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