Scientists develop jet fuel made entirely from human POO

It may seem dirty, but poop could soon make plane travel cleaner.

Researchers have discovered a way to convert human waste into usable jet fuel.

Gloucestershire-based Firefly Green Fuels says its biofuel is chemically identical to jet fuel, but produces 92 per cent less carbon dioxide.

Since aviation accounts for 2% of global carbon dioxide production, this could help cut off some of the larger sources of pollution.

“We wanted to find a low-value, highly abundant raw material. And of course faeces are abundant,” said James Higgett, CEO of Firefly Green Fuels.

To produce usable fuel from human waste, Firefly uses a method called hydrothermal liquefaction.

This uses a combination of high pressure and heat to convert the final treated form of wastewater called “biosolids” into carbon-rich biochar and crude oil.

This “bio-crude” closely resembles oil, and even behaves chemically in the same way, meaning scientists can extract kerosene from the fuel using fractional distillation.

This involves evaporating the oil and collecting the fraction that condenses at a certain temperature.

Preliminary tests of the extracted kerosene show that it has a near-identical chemical composition of A1 fossil jet fuel.

Bio-kerosene is currently undergoing tests at the DLR Institute for Combustion Technology at the German Aerospace Center.

The fuel will also be tested by the UK's SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuels) clearinghouse, based at the University of Sheffield.

Higgett calls his biofuel “fossil-free fuel” because, unlike traditional jet fuel, it does not come from crude oil.

So, although carbon dioxide is still released when fuels are burned, this carbon was originally captured by the plants that go into the food we eat.

This means that biofuels contribute less to net carbon emissions.

“Of course energy will be used (in production), but when you look at the life cycle of the fuel, the 90% savings is amazing.” Mr Higgett told the BBC.

Feces, unlike the grains and vegetable oils used in other biofuels, are naturally abundant and are the only form of waste that humans cannot stop producing.

Every day in the UK, the sewerage system collects 11 billion liters of wastewater which must be treated at around 9,000 wastewater treatment plants.

However, the UK produces more wastewater than its infrastructure can handle, dumping millions of tonnes into rivers and the sea.

Treating wastewater into fuel is a good alternative to other disposal methods, Mr Higgett told MailOnline.

“Human waste is treated differently in different parts of the world, but no matter where it occurs, it is problematic and polluting waste with very few disposal methods,” says Mr Higgett.

“By using it as a feedstock to create SAF (sustainable aviation fuel), we help clean up on both ends of the process.

“The lack of availability of feedstocks is a keenly felt pressure throughout the sustainable fuels industry, but wastewater is a waste material that will realistically never run out.”

Firefly estimates that each person produces enough wastewater each year to produce between four and five liters of jet fuel.

Traveling by airliner from London to New York – an eight-hour flight – would take in the annual wastewater of about 10,000 people.

This means that if the entire UK population's waste were converted into biofuel, it would save around five per cent of the country's demand for jet fuel.

This may not seem like a huge sum, but Higgett remains optimistic.

“This is very exciting.” There is a 10 percent sustainable aviation fuel requirement, which is legal. “We can achieve half that with feces,” he said.

However, Firefly Green Fuels says it has held talks with officials in Mumbai who believe they can operate 80 per cent of flights from their international airport using jet fuel from wastewater.

MailOnline has contacted Firefly Green Fuels for information on the cost of bio-kerosene.

As countries and companies alike look to reduce their carbon emissions, cleaning up aviation has remained extremely difficult.

Modern aircraft require huge amounts of fuel to produce the power needed for international flights.

An aircraft such as a Boeing 747 consumes about 150,000 liters of fuel during a ten-hour flight.

Earlier this year, Virgin Atlantic completed the first transatlantic flight powered entirely by sustainable aviation fuel.

The Boeing 787 used 70 tons of fuel made from waste oils and animal fats to fly from London to New York.

However, this was a one-time event, and there are currently no plans to replace fossil fuels in flight.

There are also attempts to completely replace fossil fuels by moving towards electric aircraft.

In 2022, the world's first electric passenger plane reached an altitude of 3,500 feet for the first time.

Eviation Aircraft, which produced the nine-seat plane, says it is set to carry passengers and regional cargo.