Airplane Travel With every sector devising ways to induce sustainability features in their modes of working, no less is expected of the Aviation industry.
It contributes to approximately two percent of man-made Carbon Dioxide emissions currently and is expected to increase to 5 percent by the year 2050 owing to the industry’s significant rise in the coming years.
Despite the Aviation Industry not being a part of the Paris record, it makes sure to reduce its emissions at least by 50 percent based on the 2005 data of exhaust levels by 2050.
Apart from that, additional regulations like taxation in many European countries and other countries like the Netherlands are being discussed continuously
on EU levels and are either in process of happening or are soon to happen in the near future.(Airplane Travel)
Is it possible to achieve sustainable travel?
Prior to the pandemic, global passengers numbers were set to double by 2037. As the COVID-19 pandemic nearly ground air travel to a halt, lower carbon emissions might’ve been a silver lining to a very cloudy 2020. But as travelers begin to return to the skies, is it possible to achieve sustainable air travel?
Idea of the project | Airplane Travel
To enlarge the horizons of introducing sustainable processes to enhance the working of the Aviation Industry in accordance with a sustainable future,
Rotterdam , The Hague Airport has begun a study recently that looks into ways in which sustainable kerosene can be produced from air so that the same can be used instead of aviation fuel. (Airplane Travel)
The idea mainly revolves around setting up a plant that produces Jet fuel which is renewable from air with the help of Climeworks and Crossovers. In addition to that, the plant will also look into the prospect of filtering the carbon dioxide from the air and then refining it onsite into renewable kerosene.
This entire idea was being presented to Rotterdam The Hague Airport and it kind of coincided with their intentions of testing innovations in the field of aviation.(Airplane Travel)
The Directors of this project are Willem van Genugten of Urban Crossovers and Ron Louwerse of the Hague Airport Travel
Sustainable aviation fuel
Sustainable aviation fuel is perhaps the most promising immediate method of reducing aviation emissions. Made from crops, vegetable oils, wood chips or household waste, methods to produce it vary and some are more environmentally friendly than others. So how does it work? SAF is made from materials that have already absorbed greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and replace fossil fuel, so while burning it in flight produces emissions like standard jet fuel, overall the CO2 emissions are reduced by around 80%. (airplane travel)
Reasons for kerosene being a better option than regular aviation fuel
Unlike other transportation industries like shipping and automobile industries, electrification or the usage of hydrogen fuels does not fit into the aviation industry on a larger scale.
And since Aviation fuel is based on fossil fuels, some other sustainable alternative is the need of the hour. This is where renewable jet fuels come to the rescue.(airplane travel)
Using kerosene is further cost friendly as it can be directly used in the existing aircraft rather than going into the long process of implementing new machinery and bringing in new technologies to design new aircraft.
Also, in areas like Rotterdam, gases like nitrogen oxide and sulphur oxide are harmful and use of kerosene as an alternative nullifies the chances of the emission of these gases too. (Airplane Travel)
Perks of manufacturing
The manufacturing of renewable fuel from air includes the invasion of various technologies that will further depend on the requirements,
that the study is going to bring up in the near future. This might also include cost production analysts and business analysts who will look into the most cost efficient as well as durable techniques to design and produce the renewable fuel.
Technology that will capture the Carbon Dioxide from the air, Co-Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cells in which the electrolysis cells will transform the gas into Syngas,
Fischer- Tropsch Synthesis that will further transform the Syngas into synthetic hydrocarbon and lastly, Refining that will bring an end to the entire process by converting the synthetic hydrocarbons into jet fuels. (airplane travel)
The 6 Major elements of a Sustainable Warehouse
On the other hand, the research analysts are also looking into the fact as to how much this alternative can cater to the huge amount of fuel needed per day in the aviation industry.
Since the study is based on a modular motive, developments need to be made every day for the renewable fuel to actually be able to kick start its mission that had been built on to make optimum use of the same.
Research analysts also aim to produce 1000 litres of minimum fuel per day, once the demonstration plant is all set up.
The renewable fuel, Kerosene is deemed to be a very safe alternative as compared to any other fuel can be used in the existing aircraft . With the project to kickstart on a full proof plan, the researchers and the developers aim to see the first flight take off using renewable fuel gas by 2022.