Poop-powered planes? Yup, those are on the way

We’ve heard of biofuels and electric planes, but poop-powered planes? Yeah, you heard that right– planes. Powered by poop.

We’re telling you now: human waste could be the next form of sustainable aviation fuel for commercial jets. 

Global warming is one of the world’s largest problems right now, and humans are trying to find any way possible to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, the aviation industry makes up around 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, and when counting other gases, planes account for around 3.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. 

While various companies and airlines have experimented with different types of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, or SAF, the most effective solution so far has been to increase efficiency of jet engines to decrease fuel consumption. 

The way SAF works is that the fuel is exactly the same, and it produces the same emissions out of the back of the plane. Nevertheless, since the kerosene is made from other materials, like corn husks or seed oils, the process to create the kerosene releases around 80-90% less carbon emissions than if it had come from oil. 

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has confirmed that SAF could contribute up to 65% of the reduction in emissions needed for aviation to reach net-zero in 2050, making it a huge player in their future sustainability plans. However, there are not nearly enough corn husks to power an entire aviation industry– it can be used as a part of the fuel, but there isn’t enough of it to power an entire plane. 

Meanwhile, electric and hydrogen-powered planes are still in the works, and it could be years before we receive the first working prototype. Additionally, planes require all sorts of government approvals and vetting procedures before becoming sky-worthy, meaning that it could be decades before the first electric plane gets into the sky. 

Because of this, some companies have begun to look to other alternatives to make SAF, and one British company may have discovered a solution. 

In collaboration with the Hungarian airline Wizz Air, Firefly Green Fuels has managed to turn human waste into kerosene, which is used as jet fuel in most airplanes. Several chemists at their lab in Gloucestershire, located in the United Kingdom, have confirmed that they have created a jet fuel that is almost exactly the same as regular jet fuel, just made out of poop. 

After working with human waste and combining it with several chemicals, they turn it into what they call bio-crude through a process known as hydrothermal liquefaction. After distilling this bio-crude at a high temperature, they create a bio-kerosene which is almost exactly the same in chemical makeup as regular jet fuel made from fossil fuels. The process also produces biochar, a type of charcoal that, when used correctly, can be used as a fertilizer in gardens and farms. 

This could be a massive step forward in the search for sustainable aviation fuels, as it could offer an alternative to existing biofuels made from agricultural byproducts that can be tough to use and hard to come by. Sewage is an extremely low-demand substance that has an ever-growing supply, making it easy to obtain without a huge amount of capital. Because of this, the fuel can be sold at a lower price than other biofuels, though it will still be more expensive than traditional jet fuel. 

However, there is a catch. If all of the waste of a single human being over an entire year was combined, it would only make around one gallon of jet fuel. This would mean that one flight from New York to London would require a year’s worth of waste from around 10,000 people. 

This means that human waste could only provide a small amount of the world’s total jet fuel– according to the researchers, if the waste of every single person in the UK was used, it would only account for around 5% of the country’s jet fuel demand. 

Despite those low-looking numbers, today, SAF only makes up around 0.1% of global jet fuel– meaning that 5% could make a huge difference, especially on a worldwide scale. 

Now, the researchers plan to get their fuel certified by ASTM International, a standards organization, to gain credibility, and their company has already begun raising money to build a factory to actually produce the poop-based fuel, which could easily become mainstream within the next decade. They hope to complete the factory by 2030, and it is expected to produce around 40 million liters of SAF per year. 

Image credit to Boldmethod