😬 Umm, should we be worried about Flying?
Going on a vacation on a plane might be the one of the best experiences you can have, but what does it do to our planet?
✈️ Off to the Airport…
This summer I went to eat amazing pasta in Italy 🇮🇹 and explored the various boroughs of NYC 🗽 and the easiest form of transport for me, living in San Francisco, was by an airplane 🛫 . Now When people click purchase ticket at randomairline.com - there are a plethora of reactions that range from “I’m so hyped for this trip” to “Oh god no, not another flight.”For me, when I clicked Purchase Ticket, I was excited but worried…
because i knew that our family taking a plane would be convenient for us, but not the environment around us. Why you ask? Its because of the fuel source that powers the plane: jet fuel.
🧪 What is jet fuel made out of?
jet fuel is primarily made out of two main ingredients: hydrocarbons and additive liquids. hydrocarbons are chemical compounds that are made of hydrogen and carbon atoms (“hydro - carbon”, lol). You probably have heard of some of these compounds before:
methane, ethane, propane, and butane all have 1 to 4 amounts of carbon, making them lighter in gases and then as more carbon gets added - the heavier the chemical will get. when there are 7 to 11 carbon atoms, that is where you see the gas you pump into your car 🚗, and when carbon molecules increase to the range of 12 to 16 atoms - this is where jet fuel lies.
Aromatic Hydrocarbons (hydrocarbons with another chemical called benzene) + other chemicals in this range in are known to make up the base compound for jet fuel:
Freakin’ Kerosene. the stuff that used to power lightbulbs 💡 , old school cooking 🥘 , and heating is the base for commercial jet fuels. kinda wild right?
While kerosene is a fairly complex compound, here are the main ingredients and their %’s:
Parrafins (55.2%) → this is a liquid hydrocarbon that is combustible ; the chemical formula is CnH2n+2
Naphthenes (40.9%) → these are cyclical hydrocarbons that have no benzene (also known as aliphatic hydrocarbons); the chemical formula for these are CnH2n
Aromatic Hydrocarbons (3.9%) → these are hydrocarbons with benzene; there are multiple chemical compounds that are aromatic, so no chemical formula.
The other main ingredient for jet fuels are additive liquids to ensure plane safety and taking preventive measures. The three main ones are:
❄️Fuel System Icing Inhibitor (FSII): Making sure that the fuel doesn’t freeze up and inhibit any ice in the engine
🪨Corrosion Inhibitor/ Lubricity Improver (CI/LI): The metal frames of planes can get corroded and this additive helps the lubricity when jet fuel is being transported.
🧪Gum Inhibitor: When jet fuel is exposed to oxygen it may clump up and form a solid piece of mass. This is called gum and gum inhibitor can be added to prevent this from happening.
⛽️ Types of jet fuels
Now reading all that chemistry stuff has probably got you a little tired and probably a little bored - so let me show how this affects you. For example, if we were going on a trip from SF 🌁 to New York🗽, your flight would most likely one of the following certified jet fuels:
What’s the differences between them?
jet A fuel is required in the US 🇺🇸 , used often in Canada 🇨🇦 and has a freezing point of -40 degrees celsius
jet A-1 fuel is used in the rest of the world and has a freezing point of -47 degrees celsius.
Now if you are traveling to a really cold climate; lets say Iceland, jet B fuel is probably going to be on your aircraft. It’s much colder and its freezing point is much lower at -76 degrees celsius; making it slightly riskier which is why pilots try to avoid jet B fuel. There are many other types of military grade jet fuels that are called jet propellents or “JP” fuels. If you would like to learn more about military grade jet fuels, click here.
So we know about the main ingredients of jet fuel, the different types of jet fuel - but now lets look at what happens when that jet A or jet A-1 is loaded onto the aircraft.
🛫 - 🛬 From Loading Fuel to Landing at the Final Destination ….
(1) Fuel is first loaded into the two main tanks of this multi-engine systems; the right and left tank.
(2) Once the fuel is loaded, it will go through fuel pumps to increase the fuel’s pressure, a filter to remove impurities, and through a heat-oil exchanger - this is used to pre-heat the fuel before going into the combustion unit.
(3) Once in the combustion unit, the fuel is burned off to create energy and emits CO2 as the byproduct.
This system is when everything works perfectly - there are a ton of more features in place to ensure plane safety and preventative measures such as the central tank and surge tanks. Central tanks are used when one side of the plane has an engine failure and fuel needs to be transferred from one side to the other - you can learn more about aircraft fuel systems below 👇.
🔥So we know jet fuel is burned to create energy, but how much?
Now here’s a pretty staggering fact:
1 mile of flying = 53.3 pounds of CO2 emitted
On this trip from SF to NY one way is 2,558 miles and round trip would be 5,116 miles so…
5,116 miles * 53.3 pounds of CO2 = 272,682 pounds of CO2 emitted (WTH!)
This is just for one trip ; the total number of passenger miles in 2021 in the United States was 573.38 billion miles. (Look at the chart below 👇 )
573.38 billion miles flown * 53.3 = 30.5 trillion pounds of CO2 emitted!
HOLY CRAP!
Thats a lot of CO2 that could be eliminated from the earth if we simply changed the fuel we used to power aviation and that space is growing…
Using 🗑️ to make 🛫⛽︎
Founded in 2007 by Jim McDermott, Fulcrum Bioenergy is turning garbage into sustainable aviation fuel also known as SAF. 300 millions tons of garbage is generated every year and instead of taking it into a landfill - they sort the trash and refine organic to create SAF.
In 2022, they started production at a commercial scale plant to sort and refine trash and have identified 10 more locations in the United States ; when more plants are up and running - they’ll be able to have 100% lower emissions than normal petroleum production.
👉 https://www.fulcrum-bioenergy.com/our-story
Using ⚡️to 🛫
Nebo Air - a startup founded by Celeste Goschen and Kerry Wilmot made the first certified electric airplane powered by a 57.6 kW liquid electric engine. The Pipistrel Velis Electro is designed for two people and has a flight time of an hour. If you live in the UK - you can book a flight with them to check out the experience!
In 2021, Neboair’s airplanes were being tested by the Royal Air Force (British Air Force) to test the feasibility for their fleet in the future! I think we could be looking at teslas in the sky!
Using 🌳 🪵 to make 🛫⛽️
Alder Fuels, now known as Alder Renewables founded by Bryan Sherbacow is using biomass to create sustainable fuel that can be used to power planes. Their tech is explained below 👇
They currently rebranded themselves into Alder Renewables and are looking at two key areas: commercialization, and moving into lab spaces to further develop their tech. Check out the teaser video below to learn more about them 👇
👉 https://www.alderrenewables.com/
❓Now, I’m asking you…
Does all this make you feel scared to book a trip? go on a plane? or does it make you feel you hopeful about the future of aviation? Are there any other startups in the space that peaked your interest?
leave your thoughts below and I’ll see you in the next post!