Your next flight may be powered by animal fat

-
Vegetarians beware. Your next flight

could be powered by animal byproducts. Researchers in search of renewable jet fuel are now working with a rendered form of animal fat — the byproduct of processed meats known as beef tallow — as a potential, sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.


It’s one way that airlines are trying to cut costs and curb their emissions amid a boom in air travel that will see the number of passengers double by 2035, according to International Air Transport Association. With airlines accounting for 2% of annual carbon emissions, aviation’s environmental impact has become a top issue for executives and regulators — spurring interest in affordable fuel substitutes.


Rendered animal fat isn’t the only substitute under consideration. In September, about 30% of the fuel load on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Zurich was a biofuel derived from carinata, a type of mustard seed. A month later, Virgin Airlines announced the first commercial flight powered in part by alcohol. One start-up developed a fermentation bioprocess that converts microbes found in Greek yogurt waste into bio-oils. And, more recently, Delta Refinery and tech company Agilyx agreed to produce a renewable jet fuel made from a synthetic feedstock produced by waste plastic.

AltAir Paramount LLC in Los Angeles was one of the first refineries to successfully convert beef tallow into biofuel. It also converts chicken fat and hemp into jet fuel.

“I took an idled refinery that traditionally produced 
petroleum
byproducts — anything from rubber to diesel fuel — and converted it into a renewable jet fuels facility,” said Jason Aintabi, president of Vandewater Capital Holdings and former controlling shareholder of AltAir Fuels, which owns the Paramount refinery.

Locking in on a reliable renewable energy source would help airlines protect against price spikes in energy markets. Right now, relying solely on traditional fuel is more expensive. Lifecycle emissions associated with traditional fuel is also higher.
The combination of market and regulatory pressures is spurring change. As of June, over 1,30,000 flights had been powered by biofuel, according to the International Air Transport Association. Starting next year, airlines around the world will track and report emissions to regulators.

JetBlue Airways Corp., Cathy Pacific Airways Ltd. and United Continental Holdings Inc. are already aiming to to cut carbon emissions by half from 2005 levels, according to company statements. That matches the industry target set by the International Air Transport Association.


“The aviation sector has worked through international regulatory bodies to establish one common regulation over aviation CO2 emissions globally,” Brandon Nelson, JetBlue general counsel, said in October. “In 2023, airlines will be required to offset a portion of their CO2 emissions for international flying through market-based measures.” That may mean fewer barrels — and more beef.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please comment on this blog-

Popular posts from this blog

E-bandage generates electricity, speeds wound healing in rats

-
Image
                                                                                                                                                       A wound covered by an electric bandage on a rat's skin (top left) healed faster than a wound under a control bandage (right). Skin has a remarkable ability to heal itself. But in some cases, wounds heal very slowly or not at all, putting a person at risk for chronic pain, infection and scarring. Now, researchers have developed a self-powered bandage that generates an electric field over an injury, dramatically reducing the healing time for skin wounds in ...
Read more

Fathers Are Happier Than Mothers, Study Shows — And Here's Why

-
Image
The third study compared fathers to mothers and their level of happiness while caring for their children. Fathers, it seems, are more likely to be happy while caring for their children than mothers. A 2019 study out of the University of California Riverside, highlights one more aspect in the divide between fathers and mothers, and more broadly, men and women. The research, a meta-analysis of three different studies, looked at the emotional health of 18,000 people and compared traits like well-being, happiness, episodes of depression, and stress. The first two studies within the research compared parents to childless people and found that fathers are happier than their child-free peers. The reason? Dads, more often than moms, report playing with their children while providing care. Now, let's unpack this a bit. We can assume, that of the 18,000 couples who took part in this research, many split household chores equally. But over recent years, much light has...
Read more

Your friends shape your microbiome — and so do their friends

-
Image
Analysis of nearly 2,000 people living in remote villages in Honduras reveals who’s spreading gut microorganisms to whom. Friends share more than just food when they dine together.Credit: Getty A shared meal, a kiss on the cheek: these social acts bring people together — and bring their microbiomes together, too. The more people interact, the more similar the make-up of their gut microorganisms is, even if individuals don’t live in the same household, a study1 shows. The study also found that a person’s microbiome is shaped not only by their social contacts but also by the social contacts’ connections. The work is one of several studies2 that raise the possibility that health conditions can be shaped by the transmission of the microbiome between individuals, not just by diet and other environmental factors that affect gut flora. In the quest to understand what shapes a person’s microbiome, social interactions are “definitely a piece of the puzzle that I think has been missing until rec...
Read more