Researchers have identified a new way to produce aviation fuel from sugarcane biomass that could deliver substantial cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

 

The source crops could be grown on marginal land, avoiding displacing food production, the team observed.

 

They added the development of renewable liquid fuels was critical to reduce global reliance on petroleum and help mitigate climate change.

 

The findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

"We've identified a new route of chemistry with its source from sugars in sugarcane plus some of the so-called waste material called bagasse," said co-author Alexis Bell from the University of California, Berkeley, US.

 

"We show in this paper how we can put these components together to make jet diesel and lubricants."

 

The development of a reliable biofuel that can be scaled up to a level that be used by the world's commercial airlines has proved somewhat elusive.

 

Prof Bell explained that there were a number of understandably strict requirements when it came to aviation fuel.

 

"The first one is that there must be no oxygen content, the reason being that any oxygen you put in decreases the energy density and as space on an aircraft is at a premium, and you'd like to pack in as much energy in the form of burnable fuel as possible," he said.

 

"Second, the fuel must have the right boiling point distribution, and then it has to have properties called lubricity, which means it does not cause excessive wear of the turbine components.

 

"It also has to have a very low pour point, which means the temperature at which the fuel becomes gelatinous and therefore no longer flows. When you are up in the stratosphere, temperatures around the aircraft are around -40C (-40F) or -50C, so you do not want your fuel gelling up on you."

 

He added: "What we have developed meets all of those criteria."