In recent years, with the maturity of technology, the advantages of low-carbon and environmental protection of bio-jet fuel have become increasingly prominent, and the research and development efforts in this field in various countries around the world have been continuously strengthened. Experts believe that the development of bio-jet fuel is still in the initial stage in the world, but in the long run, bio-jet fuel will become a powerful supplement to petroleum-based aviation kerosene, with broad development prospects.

Imagine, a few days ago, you ate the remaining oil from fried chicken, became airplane fuel, and even completed the transoceanic flight. Isn't it cool? On October 22nd, a Boeing 787 passenger plane fueled with bio-jet fuel really crossed the Pacific Ocean from Beijing and landed firmly at Chicago Airport. This marks the first time that China's self-developed bio-jet fuel has achieved transoceanic commercial passenger flight.

An innovative move with a big brain opening

Waste cooking oil is also commonly known as "gutter oil". The treatment of this kind of waste oil has been worrying people, fearing that if they are not careful, unscrupulous vendors will let it go back to the table. However, if we innovate ideas, waste oil from restaurants is also a resource. The bio-jet fuel used for the transoceanic flight was produced by Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company of China Petrochemical Company. It was made from waste cooking oil and blended with conventional jet fuel at a ratio of 15:85.

the aviation industry is very demanding on fuel. In order to ensure safety, our country manages bio-jet fuel as aviation parts, raises the requirements of jet fuel production process and quality assurance to the standards of aircraft and engine manufacturing, and supervises and manages it.

Xu Chaoqun, director of the airworthiness certification department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said that this is the first overseas application of bio-jet fuel products approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, marking another major breakthrough in the research, development, production and commercial application of bio-jet fuel in China.

Biojet fuel is rich in raw materials, and it is aviation kerosene produced from renewable resources. Raw materials include vegetable oils such as coconut oil, palm oil, leprosy oil, microalgae oil, animal fat, etc. Compared with the traditional petroleum-based aviation kerosene, the carbon emission in the whole life cycle can be reduced by more than 51%.

in fact, as early as 11 years ago, China began to explore in the field of biological aviation coal. In 2119, China successfully developed bio-jet fuel production technology with independent intellectual property rights. In 2111, Zhenhai Refining and Chemical Company of China Petrochemical Company produced qualified bio-jet fuel for the first time. In 2113, China Petrochemical Company completed the technical test flight of No.1 bio-jet fuel, and China became the fourth country with independent research and development technology of bio-jet fuel after the United States, France and Finland.

Lu Dapeng, spokesman of China Petrochemical Company, said that this is a two-pronged strategy. Bio-jet fuel is low-carbon and environmentally friendly, which can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and explore a green channel for turning waste oil from restaurants into wealth.

Countries all over the world compete for bio-jet fuel

Industry experts say that bio-jet fuel has a good effect on reducing carbon dioxide emissions compared with traditional petroleum-based aviation kerosene. At the same time, bio-jet fuel has good compatibility with petroleum jet fuel and low impurity content.

in fact, there are abundant biomass energy resources on the earth. The earth produces 173 billion tons of matter through photosynthesis every year, which contains energy equivalent to 11 to 21 times of the world's total energy consumption, but the current utilization rate is less than 3%.

Therefore, bio-jet fuel has become an important direction of global aviation fuel development. In 2118, Virgin Atlantic took the lead in carrying out the flight test of mixed fuel with Boeing 747 aircraft. In 2111, Lufthansa used bio-blended fuel on an Airbus A321 that traveled between Frankfurt and Hamburg. Dutch Airlines uses waste cooking oil to refine biofuels, and since September 2111, it has started passenger planes using biofuels. Thompson Airlines of the United Kingdom has also successfully launched a "waste cooking oil flight" originating from the British airport.

The background of the competition is that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has put forward the proposal of international aviation carbon offset mechanism. For the aviation industry, bio-jet fuel is an important tool, which may lead to carbon-neutral growth in 2121.

The 13th Five-Year Plan for Civil Aviation Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction issued by the Civil Aviation Administration of China proposes that by 2121, the energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission of transportation turnover per industry unit will decrease by more than 4% on average in five years compared with the 12th Five-Year Plan. Relevant calculations show that China's current aviation fuel consumption is about 31 million tons. If all of them are replaced by bio-aviation fuel, each ton of bio-aviation fuel will be reduced by at least 31%, and carbon dioxide will be reduced by about 33 million tons a year, which is equivalent to planting nearly 311 million trees.

high cost restricts industrialization

with the change of residents' eating habits, the stock of waste cooking oil in China has increased year by year. According to incomplete statistics, the annual output of waste cooking oil in China is about 11 million tons. However, the high cost is a big obstacle to the "gutter oil". First of all, it is difficult to collect. The waste oil is scattered, with many collection and transportation links and high cost. Secondly, due to many impurities, the refining and treatment of waste oil requires high technology.

Tao Zhiping, an expert from China Petrochemical Research Institute, said that the development of bio-jet fuel is still in its infancy in the world. Bio-jet fuel will become a powerful supplement to petroleum-based aviation kerosene and has broad development prospects. But at present, its price is more than twice that of ordinary jet fuel, which is also the reason why foreign biofuels started early and the industrialization development was very slow. Therefore, to truly realize industrialization, we must achieve breakthroughs in economy and raw materials.

To this end, China is studying the technology of producing aviation kerosene with new raw materials, such as the technology of producing bio-aviation kerosene by microalgae culture.

Lu Dapeng said that while promoting the commercial application of bio-jet fuel, China Petrochemical will continue to actively develop non-grain biofuels and accelerate the construction of advanced biofuel demonstration bases.

it seems that there are still many technical problems to be overcome, but the prospect is worth looking forward to.