Passenger aircraft will run on sawdust and straw?

In the future, passenger aircraft around the world will be able to use fuel extracted from sawdust or straw instead of gasoline as currently.

With the aim of creating cheap and environmentally friendly alternative fuel sources, French scientists built a project called "ProBio3", officially launched last July with the source funded by the French government's economic growth promotion program.

In particular, scientists will take advantage of traditional materials such as sawdust and straw which are used as "beds" for horses to turn into a new biofuel with a 50/50 use rate with gasoline. oil.

Professor Carole Molina-Jouve at Toulouse's National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA) said: "In the future, aircraft generations will operate thanks to fuel extracted from agricultural and forestry waste. career ".

In the future, aircraft generations will use
Fuel sources are extracted from sawdust and straw

The campaign to use wood and straw-derived raw materials is considered the latest scientific move in the journey to develop biofuels not only to reduce costs but also to protect the ecological environment.

But so far, experts have only focused on producing biofuel sources derived from agriculture, raising concerns about the possibility of the world lacking food supply under the impact of drought. drought in many regions around the globe in recent times.

However, Airbus - the European aircraft maker, believes that excess wood and agricultural waste will become an alternative fuel source in the future.

With funding of 24.6 million euros (US $ 32.1 million) over eight years, French scientists plan to build ProBio3 into a production chain of de-hydrogen-carbon oil-course Biological data has been licensed by ASTM International Organization for aviation industry and kerosene fuel.

Using fuel extracted from wood and straw sounds "strange" when they are pumped into engine compartments at temperatures up to 1,600 degrees C. But researchers have found a solution to the problem. This is thanks to a very detailed and meticulous production process.

First, agricultural and industrial waste will be broken down into sugars by enzymes, then mixed with yeast-like microorganisms, forming fat through chemical fermentation. Finally, scientists use hydrogen to process fat that turns into hydrogen-carbon, which has fossil-like properties.

Products do not compete with the food industry

The European Union is planning to limit the use of agricultural-derived biofuel products as European governments' alternative fuel development policies face mixed opinions.

The "ProBio3" project is seen as part of a European Union effort to reduce carbon emissions and produce 2 million tons of biofuels to serve the aviation industry by 2020 in Europe. .

Currently, each year, the European region consumes about 50 million tons of kerosene. Therefore, in the early stages of this year, Airbus, Boeing and Brazilian firm Embraer decided to start working together to develop alternative fuel sources.