Jet fuel

A new chemical treatment developed by scientists at Washington State University could help chip away at our plastic pollution problem, by turning the most commonly used plastic into jet fuel components within one hour.

​Commonly used to make a wide variety of items, low-density polyethylene can be recycled into new plastic, but there's much more waste than recycling facilities can currently handle. With that in mind, scientists have now devised a method of converting the material into something else – jet fuel.

​It was back in 2011 that we first heard how Virgin Atlantic Airways was planning to use an eco-friendly aviation fuel made from captured steel mill waste gases. A successful test flight followed in 2016, and the fuel has now been utilized in a commercial flight for the first time.

British Airways has announced plans to create a set of waste plants that turn regular household waste into jet fuel for its fleet. The plan, currently being assessed in collaboration with renewable fuels company Velocys, is part of a program designed to cut fleet-wide emissions in half by 2050.

Alaska Airlines has flown a number of commercial passengers across the United States, fueled by woody biomass. ​

Without much in the way of fanfare, United Airlines began flying regularly scheduled flights using biofuels earlier this month. It's the first instance of a US airline putting commercial-scale volumes of biofuel into passenger-carrying planes on an ongoing basis.

Using jet propellent and a combination of enzymes as catalysts, researchers at the University of Utah have produced a prototype fuel cell that runs at room temperature and without the need to ignite the fuel.