A new report from the UK’s Royal Society concludes that no single path to achieving net-zero carbon in aviation exists and the avenues now being explored are all fraught with technological and practical difficulties. Published today, the “Net Zero Aviation Fuels: Resource Requirements and Environmental Impacts” paper focuses on four sustainable alternatives to jet-A: hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic efuels, and biofuels.
For the report, Cardiff University professor Graham Hutchings led a working group that assessed these options against the following considerations: the equivalent resources that would be required to replace fossil fuel, a lifecycle analysis and non-carbon-dioxide environmental impacts, likely costs, and modifications and replacement needed to implement the option.
Among the more startling conclusions in the context of the UK industry is that the country would have to allocate huge areas of agricultural land to support biofuel production or more than double its renewable electricity supply just to support the greening of aviation. Difficulties regarding the availability and accessibility of sustainable feedstocks for biofuel production head a list of the report’s main conclusions.
The working group stressed that some of the science related to the various options isn’t yet sufficiently understood. It called for more research and development in areas such as the efficient production, storage, and use of green hydrogen, ammonia, and efuels.
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