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United States uses membrane-assisted anaerobic digestion to create jet fuel from wastewater: cheaper and more environmentally friendly!
A team of researchers from Argonne National Laboratory, run by the U.S. Department of Energy, has developed a system that converts wastewater into jet fuel. The organic biofuel generates 70% fewer emissions than jet fuel.
How it works. The system converts organic wastewater into butyric acid and other volatile fatty acids (VFAs), precursors to sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). The process starts with a concentrate of carbon-rich wastewater, such as that from breweries and dairy farms.
The system, assisted by membranes, performs interrupted anaerobic digestion of methane (MAAD) to produce VFA. This technology minimizes the production of lactic acid, a chemical compound that limits the efficiency of converting VFA to SAF. Therefore, it produces a VFA more efficient and with better performance.
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An economical and efficient solution for sustainable aviation
A more economical SAF. SAF production represents less than 1% of the fuel used in the aviation industry because it depends mainly on raw materials such as fats and oils, which are limited and expensive.
The new system produces AGV at 60 cents per kilogram, so the derived SAF could be sold at a minimum price of $1,23 per liter. The usual price of SAF is $1,77. This is a significant reduction, even though jet fuel costs $0,75 per liter.
Why it matters. Airplanes are responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. SAFs are seen as a key solution to reducing aviation’s carbon footprint and meeting global climate goals, but they have never fully taken off.
This new scalable technology addresses two of the main problems of SAFs: their production costs and their scarce availability, either due to the high costs of their raw materials or insufficient production for the aeronautical industry.
The DoE’s bet. The US Department of Energy has set two ambitious goals for the sector: to produce 11 billion liters of SAF by 2030, and to meet 100% of commercial aviation fuel demand with SAF by 2050.
This approach, which turns waste such as sewage into a sustainable fuel, could be key to achieving these goals. But more incentives and research will be needed to keep the price of SAFs falling and aircraft running on wastewater.
