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A Review of Current and Emerging Production Technologies for Biomass-Derived Sustainable Aviation Fuels

Author

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  • Morenike Ajike Peters

    (Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute, Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, School of Infrastructure & Sustainable Engineering, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK)

  • Carine Tondo Alves

    (Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute, Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, School of Infrastructure & Sustainable Engineering, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
    Departamento de Engenharia de Energia, Centro de Ciência e Tecnologia em Energia e Sustentabilidade, Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB), Feira de Santana 44085-132, Brazil)

  • Jude Azubuike Onwudili

    (Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute, Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry, School of Infrastructure & Sustainable Engineering, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK)

Abstract

The aviation industry is a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions, with over 920 million tonnes per year, and there is a growing need to reduce its environmental impact. The production of biojet fuel from renewable biomass feedstocks presents a promising solution to address this challenge, with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels in the aviation sector. This review provides an in-depth discussion of current and emerging biojet fuel conversion technologies, their feasibility, and their sustainability, focusing on the promising conversion pathways: lipids-to-jet, sugar-to-jet, gas-to-jet, alcohol-to-jet, and whole biomass-to-jet. Each technology is discussed in terms of its associated feedstocks, important chemistries, and processing steps, with focus on recent innovations to improve yields of biojet product at the required specifications. In addition, the emerging power-to-liquid technology is briefly introduced. With the integrated biorefinery approach, consideration is given to biomass pretreatment to obtain specific feedstocks for the specific technology to obtain the final product, with the embedded environmental sustainability requirements. In addition, the review highlights the challenges associated with the biojet production technologies, with embedded suggestions of future research directions to advance the development of this important and fast-growing sustainable fuel industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Morenike Ajike Peters & Carine Tondo Alves & Jude Azubuike Onwudili, 2023. "A Review of Current and Emerging Production Technologies for Biomass-Derived Sustainable Aviation Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-40, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:16:p:6100-:d:1221886
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