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from the sugar-promotes-heart-disease dept.
Airlines are under pressure to reduce their carbon emissions, and are highly vulnerable to global oil price fluctuations. These challenges have spurred strong interest in biomass-derived jet fuels. Bio-jet fuel can be produced from various plant materials, including oil crops, sugar crops, starchy plants and lignocellulosic biomass, through various chemical and biological routes. However, the technologies to convert oil to jet fuel are at a more advanced stage of development and yield higher energy efficiency than other sources.
We are engineering sugarcane, the most productive plant in the world, to produce oil that can be turned into bio-jet fuel. In a recent study, we found that use of this engineered sugarcane could yield more than 2,500 liters of bio-jet fuel per acre of land. In simple terms, this means that a Boeing 747 could fly for 10 hours on bio-jet fuel produced on just 54 acres of land. Compared to two competing plant sources, soybeans and jatropha, lipidcane would produce about 15 and 13 times as much jet fuel per unit of land, respectively.
Maybe jet fuel is a better use of the world's sugar supply than eating it is...
(Score: 2) by lx on Wednesday November 22 2017, @10:55AM (1 child)
"Sugarcane is harvested once per year. The plants are maintained for three years and will achieve three harvests before the field is replanted. "
54 acres for 10 hours of flight per year. Sounds horribly inefficient to me.
source [gardenguides.com]
(Score: 2) by Nerdfest on Wednesday November 22 2017, @02:29PM
The bonus is that these plants suck up CO2, then release it when it's burned. Oil just releases it.