Recent Trends, Opportunities and Challenges of Sustainable Aviation Fuel

The aviation industry has achieved several milestones in emission reduction including improved aircraft fuel efficiency and better air traffic control to promote safe, efficient and sustainable air travel. However, no clear winning sustainable jet fuel technology exists, a situation that encourages continued research and development in innovative biojet fuel technologies. This chapter provides an overview of current opportunities for the development of biojet fuels and highlights the reasons behind the burgeoning efforts. It presents a summary of the current biojet fuel technologies, and the status of several specific challenges facing the industry is explained, which help the reader to better understand the overall landscape of biojet fuels. Aviation should be environmentally sustainable, cause minimal pollution to air and water, and contribute to high quality human life. Results indicated that coproduction of jet fuel from waste lignin can dramatically improve the overall economic viability of an integrated process for corn stover ethanol production.