Estados Unidos está prestes a conseguir um novo combustível para aviões feito a partir de águas residuais: uma revolução que pode reduzir 70% das emissões aéreas e que pode ser vendido a apenas 1,23 dólares por litro

United States Is About to Get New Aircraft Fuel Made from Wastewater: A Revolution That Could Reduce Air Emissions by 70% and Be Sold for Just $1.23 per Liter

Written by Noel Budeguer

Published on 12/10/2024 at 10:30

Estados Unidos está prestes a conseguir um novo combustível para aviões feito a partir de águas residuais: uma revolução que pode reduzir 70% das emissões aéreas e que pode ser vendido a apenas 1,23 dólares por litro

Be the first to react!

United States Uses Membrane-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion to Create Aviation Fuel from Wastewater: Cheaper and More Eco-Friendly!

A team of researchers from the Argonne National Laboratory, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy, has developed a system that converts wastewater into aviation fuel. The organic biofuel generates 70% less emissions than aviation kerosene.

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 carbon-rich wastewater concentrate, such as those from breweries and dairy farms.

Membrane-assisted, the system performs a methane-enhanced anaerobic digestion (MAAD) to produce VFAs. This technology minimizes the production of lactic acid, a chemical compound that limits the efficiency of converting VFAs into SAFs. Therefore, it produces a VFA that is more efficient and performs better.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

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 mainly relies on raw materials such as fats and oils, which are limited and expensive.

The new system produces VFAs 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, although the price of aviation fuel is $0.75 per liter.

Why It Matters. Airplanes are responsible for 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. SAFs are seen as a key solution for reducing the aviation carbon footprint and meeting global climate goals, but they have never fully taken off.

This new scalable technology addresses two of the main issues of SAFs: their production costs and their limited availability, whether due to the high costs of raw materials or insufficient production for the aviation industry.

The DOE’s Bet. The U.S. 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 the demand for commercial aviation fuel with SAF by 2050.

This approach, which turns waste such as wastewater into sustainable fuel, could be the key to achieving these goals. But more incentives and research will be needed for SAF prices to continue to fall and for airplanes to start operating on wastewater.

United States Is About to Get New Aircraft Fuel Made from Wastewater: A Revolution That Could Reduce Air Emissions by 70% and Be Sold for Just $1.23 per Liter

United States Uses Membrane-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion to Create Aviation Fuel from Wastewater: Cheaper and More Eco-Friendly!

An Economical and Efficient Solution for Sustainable Aviation

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

Few know, but India has a 36 km wall that surrounds a fort in the mountains and is considered the second largest in the world, behind the Great Wall of China.

Hyundai Creta 2029 appears in new spy shots with a completely revamped design, a more modern digital interior, a larger multimedia center, a more comfortable passenger seat, and electrification finally on the radar.

Former CIA analyst warns that China has already surpassed the US in missiles, electronic warfare, cyber, and military production, transforming the Pacific into a zone without safe spaces while Washington clings to its submarine advantage.

Home-built airplane by a Minas Gerais engineer uses car parts, such as a power window motor for the flaps and a tachometer on the dashboard. The project took six years, and the aircraft has autonomy to fly up to seven hours non-stop.

United States Is About to Get New Aircraft Fuel Made from Wastewater: A Revolution That Could Reduce Air Emissions by 70% and Be Sold for Just $1.23 per Liter

United States Uses Membrane-Assisted Anaerobic Digestion to Create Aviation Fuel from Wastewater: Cheaper and More Eco-Friendly!

An Economical and Efficient Solution for Sustainable Aviation

Seven world powers including the US, China, and Russia are spending €22 billion on a reactor in the south of France that aims to confine plasma at 150 million degrees Celsius, ten times the temperature of the Sun’s core, using a magnetic field capable of lifting an entire aircraft carrier.

Elon Musk’s internet comes to mobile: Starlink technology connects smartphones without an antenna via satellite, works even without carrier signal, already costs just US$10 extra in the US, and could arrive in Brazil as an included benefit.

While Brazil has been discussing bullet trains for 16 years, China delivers 5 new high-speed lines in 2026, surpasses 50,000 km of HSR, and moves 1 billion passengers in a single year.

With a wingspan of 152 meters, 76 tires, and a capacity to carry 1,270 tons, the Boeing Pelican was the giant “flying ship” that promised to cross oceans close to the water on an invisible air cushion beneath its wings.

A Chinese factory in Guangdong is assembling a humanoid robot every 30 minutes while Tesla, Figure, and Boston Dynamics still struggle to deliver 10 thousand per year.

While countries spend billions to draw water from the sea, a Nobel-winning scientist creates a container-sized machine that extracts up to 1,000 liters per day from dry air and uses ultrasound to release water in minutes, even in the middle of the desert.

Belgium will sink 23 giant concrete caissons, each weighing 22,000 tons, in the North Sea to build the world’s first artificial energy island 45 km off the coast, forming offshore electrical walls.

Emirates extends the flag of the United Arab Emirates across the entire Airbus A380, transforming the world’s largest passenger aircraft into an aerial showcase and amplifying a symbol of unity across the skies.

Ranking reveals the best airlines in the world in 2026 and surprisingly includes only one Brazilian among global premium aviation giants

Airlines are accelerating their bet on premium seats to increase profits and transform the flight experience while economy class loses ground globally.

The Aeronauts’ Union warns that the Brazilian aviation system is heading for an unprecedented collapse and points to the increase in flights with foreign crews in the Amazon, the deadlock over fatigue, and the stalling of special retirement as threats to air safety and sovereignty.

China Eastern Airbus A350 hits a jet bridge twice in Shanghai, strikes a Rolls-Royce engine valued at up to R$ 150 million, and an investigation is launched into the failure upon arrival at the finger.

Few know, but India has a 36 km wall that surrounds a fort in the mountains and is considered the second largest in the world, behind the Great Wall of China.

Hyundai Creta 2029 appears in new spy shots with a completely revamped design, a more modern digital interior, a larger multimedia center, a more comfortable passenger seat, and electrification finally on the radar.

Former CIA analyst warns that China has already surpassed the US in missiles, electronic warfare, cyber, and military production, transforming the Pacific into a zone without safe spaces while Washington clings to its submarine advantage.

Home-built airplane by a Minas Gerais engineer uses car parts, such as a power window motor for the flaps and a tachometer on the dashboard. The project took six years, and the aircraft has autonomy to fly up to seven hours non-stop.