Sustainable Air Journey Invoice May Be A ‘Sport Changer’

A Hawaiian House of Representatives bill on sustainable aviation fuel caught the attention of a team of researchers at Oxford University, England, who recently announced that they had invented an efficient and inexpensive way to produce carbon-neutral jet fuel from atmospheric carbon dioxide.

If this proves economically viable, the bill would be a staple for Hawaii and the world. The islands would come a long way towards our state’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045.

Jet fuel combustion is Hawaii’s largest single source of carbon emissions, and it produces more than just cars or power generation. The return journey of a single passenger to the mainland corresponds to about a year of driving a car with CO2 emissions. For the environmentally conscious, what doing flying does is make the grandchildren feel kind of guilty.

Therefore House bill 683 was introduced by House Speaker Scott Saiki and Representatives Mark Nakashima, Aaron Ling Johanson, John Mizuno and Dee Morikawa. According to him, the bill would “provide grants to any small business in Hawaii that develops products related to reducing sustainable aviation fuel or greenhouse gas emissions from commercial aviation operations.”

So far, efforts in this direction have mainly been in the area of ​​biofuels, but the Oxford process, which produces jet fuel using only air, water and renewable energy, would certainly be suitable.

A bill moving through Hawaiian law could accelerate the state’s goal of becoming carbon neutral.

Nathan Eagle / Civil Beat

The team in England is led by Peter Edwards, Professor of Chemistry at Oxford, and chemists Benzhen Yao and Tiancun Xiao. Her decades of research were supported by government agencies in China and Saudi Arabia.

When I pointed out the potential opportunity in Hawaii and House Bill 683 to Oxford scientists, team leaders Peter Edwards and Tiancun Xiao replied that they were “very interested” and that they “would like to start in Hawaii if they received adequate support is available.”

In a subsequent email exchange, Tiancun added: “Hawaii could become a world example of a net-zero air travel country. I’m sure our advanced catalyst system and process can catalyze this. “

Scientists are already confident that their process is far more efficient and economical than previous methods of converting CO2 into jet fuel. Your goal now is to see whether your new process is economical.

In other words, can it compete in the market with jet fuel made by refining crude oil? Benzhen Yao was quoted in Forbes magazine“This is the critical question that concerns us now.”

Hawaii may be a counter-intuitive choice for a jet fuel manufacturing facility, but because of our visitor industry, Honolulu Airport is one of the busiest in the United States. We also have a large military presence with the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps all flying jets, so there is a sizable market for jet fuels.

“Super catalyst”

There is a refinery in Campbell Industrial Park operated by Par Pacific. However, it can only refine petroleum products that are shipped here, and we are thousands of kilometers from the nearest oil well. Our fuel prices are among the highest in the nation.

However, we are abundantly supplied with the renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, that the Oxford Process requires. If the process is to be competitive anywhere, it should be here.

This new method of producing jet fuel should not be confused with reforming CO2 in fuel gas from refineries. This process is very intense with fossil fuels.

This new method uses CO2 extracted from the air, which is converted with hydrogen (H2) using a process known as organic combustion and a new “super catalyst” made from a combination of iron, manganese and potassium to produce certain hydrocarbons. Functionally, the fuel produced is identical to the fuels currently used in the aviation industry.

Hawaii is abundantly supplied with renewable energy sources.

First published last December in the journal Nature CommunicationsThe Oxford discovery has since been cautiously but enthusiastically received in the UK press, as well as Forbes, the Washington Post, Science News, Chemical and Engineering News and Chemistry World.

Edwards was quoted in the Daily Mail“This is a really exciting, possibly revolutionary, advance, the most important advance in my four decades of career.”

What is the outlook for House Bill 683 in Hawaii?

Well, it’s been a tough year for any legislation that has to spend money. So far, however, the law has been passed with almost unanimous support in the House Committees on Economic Development, Consumer Protection and Trade and Finance, with the Ministries of Transport, Energy and the Office of Planning all expressing support.

A related bill House bill 327would convene a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Task Force within the Hawaii State Energy Bureau to develop a state plan of action to reduce the greenhouse gas intensity of international aviation from Hawaii. This bill was also passed by committees in the House.

Both bills are now expected to be forwarded to the Senate. We can hope that this new scientific discovery and Oxford scientists’ interest in Hawaii will pay additional attention to legislation.

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