Sustainability assessment of hydro-processed renewable jet fuel from algae from market-entry year 2020: Use in passenger aircrafts

摘要

The increasing concerns related to the environment causes aviation policies to become more stringent. There are emission restrictions established for the aviation industry in future and it is important to use an alternative jet fuel with lower socio-environmental impacts. For the present fleet of passenger aircrafts, this study assesses the sustainability of algae-derived Hydro-processed Renewable (HR) jet fuel to be used from year 2020, in comparison with petroleum-based jet fuel. The impact assessment is carried out using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) tools which 'quantify' all socio-environmental damages. On a life-cycle basis, it is found that by replacing petroleum-based jet fuel with HR jet fuel from algae in all classes of passenger aircrafts, the Green-house Gases (GHGs) emission will reduce by 68.81%-68.87%, damage to Resources (R) will reduce by 78.6%, damage to Eco-system Quality (EQ) will reduce by 1.2%-4.59%, and damage to Human Health (HH) will reduce by 23.6%-29%; where petroleum-based jet fuel contributes 9.61%-11.94% damage to R, 5.46%-6.61% damage to EQ, and 82.6%-83.78% damage to HH, of the total damages caused. The price of 100% HR jet fuel from algae in year 2020 will likely be lesser than or similar to the petroleum-based jet fuel. Therefore, for all classes of passenger aircrafts, using HR jet fuel from algae will be more sustainable from market-entry year 2020, compared to petroleum-based jet fuel.