Jet fuel

​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.