In a world first, University of Sydney researchers have developed a chemical process using plasma that would create sustainable jet fuel from methane gas emitted from landfills, potentially making a low-carbon aviation industry.
Methane is a way more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide (CO2). In accordance with the International Energy Agency, the concentration of methane within the atmosphere is currently around two-and-a-half times greater than pre-industrial levels and is increasing steadily, with waste emissions and the burning of fossil fuels accounting for a big proportion.
The research was published within the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Australia recently joined the international methane mitigation agreement with america, the European Union, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Lead writer, Professor PJ Cullen from the University of Sydney’s School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Net Zero Initiative said: “Globally, landfills are a significant emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly a mix of CO2 and methane. Now we have developed a process that might take these gases and convert them into fuels, targeting sectors which can be difficult to affect, like aviation.”
“Modern landfill facilities already capture, upgrade and combust their gas emissions for electricity generation, nonetheless, our process creates a rather more environmentally impactful and commercially useful product,” he said.
Global landfill emissions are estimated at 10-20 million tonnes of greenhouse gases per yr, a worth comparable to the emissions of the worldwide energy sector.
Aviation currently accounts for about three percent of the world’s emissions. Making a “closed loop” fuel based on existing emissions would eliminate the necessity for traditional and sustainable jet fuels, which add further emissions into the atmosphere.
How plasma makes the method work
The method would work by extracting methane from a landfill site, generally known as a methane well, which uses a shaft-like mechanism to extract gases.
“The fantastic thing about that is that this easy process captures almost the precise composition that we want for our process,” said Professor Cullen.
“Non-thermal plasma is an electricity-driven technology which may excite gas at each a low temperature and atmospheric pressure. Essentially, what this implies is that this approach facilitates the conversion of the gas into value-added products by inducing plasma discharge inside forming gas bubbles. The method doesn’t require heat or pressure, meaning it requires less energy, making it highly compatible with renewable energy power sources.”
DISCLOSURE
Authors PJ Cullen, Emma Lovell and Tianqi Zhang are related to PlasmaLeap Technologies, the supplier of the plasma technology employed to generate plasma bubbles on this study.
The authors acknowledge the MagRes node at Sydney Analytical Core Research Facility for access to the NMR infrastructure, Michelle Wood at Sydney Analytical for extra assistance in ATR-FTIR and Aditya Rawal on the University of Latest South Wales Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre for solid-state NMR measurements.
