TNO is a partner in an efficient and sustainable aviation fuel consortium

If the aviation industry uses carbon dioxide₂If you want to drastically reduce emissions in order to comply with EU rules, airlines must switch to sustainable fuels. It really exists and the only problem is that this fuel – also known as SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) – is two to eight times more expensive than regular aviation kerosene. The TNO Research Institute is now part of the HIGFLY consortium that it leads You / e, Conduct research into cheaper sustainable aviation fuels. Major players from the aviation sector such as SkyNRG and Boeing are represented in the consortium, along with other partners from Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom.

TNO It will develop this sustainable fuel in a new group Biofuel Lab In two houses. The institute will also make calculations for the scalability of fuel production. In this way, the CO must be met₂Emission targets set for the aviation sector (50 percent reduction in 2050 compared to 2005 levels).

“Time is money and CO2 cuts are also lost,” says Jaap Van Hall, project coordinator on behalf of TNO. “The longer it takes to obtain sustainable jet fuel, the more carbon dioxide will be emitted from various sources because it is not yet available.”

Urgency

In order to introduce a new type of fuel, it must first go through the international approval process, which can take up to 15 years. However, this only applies to truly “new” fuels, which also have a new molecular structure. One way to offer an alternative fuel source is to create one that resembles an already certified fuel, such as kerosene.

To this end, furan is used in the HIGFLY concept. This is a class of ingredients that can be used to make various molecules of biomass with functions similar to those found in carbon-based fuels. Van Hal hopes to be able to use these compounds to create an alternative to kerosene while avoiding the lengthy approval process.

If the research is successful, the consortium expects these compounds to increase carbon dioxide_2-It can reduce emissions by 70 to 90 percent. The four-year project is funded by a 4 million euro grant from the European Union Research and Innovation Program Horizon 2020. The first preliminary results are expected in 2022.

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