A new study overcomes a key challenge to switching commercial aircraft in the U.S. from their near-total reliance on fossil fuels to more sustainable aviation fuels.
A new study overcomes a key challenge to switching commercial aircraft in the U.S. from their near-total reliance on fossil fuels to more sustainable aviation fuels. The study details a cost-effective method for producing ethylbenzene — an additive that improves the functional characteristics of sustainable aviation fuels — from polystyrene, a hard plastic used in many consumer goods.
The findings are reported in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering.
Fuels derived from waste fat, oil, grease, plant biomass or other nonpetroleum sources lack sufficient levels of aromatic hydrocarbons, which help keep fuel systems operational by lubricating mechanical parts and swelling the seals that protect from leaks during normal operations, said Hong Lu, a research scientist at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center who led the new research. ISTC is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Read more at: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center research scientist Hong Lu and his colleagues developed a method for converting waste polystyrene into a sustainable jet fuel additive, ethylbenzene. Their work overcomes a key obstacle to the wider use of sustainable aviation fuels. (Photo Credit: Fred Zwicky)
