Alternative jet fuels hold the promise of energy supply diversification in the face of rising oil prices. In addition, alternative fuels may reduce environmental impact from aviation-related combustion emissions.
To properly account for the environmental costs and benefits of introducing alternative fuels, we must evaluate the environmental impacts. This extends from the fuel origin, as it is produced; to its end, as combustion products enter the environment; what is referred to as a "well-to-wake analysis." The focus of Project 28 is on the creation and use of an aviation-specific life-cycle analysis framework to assess the alternative fuel environmental impacts from well-to-wake. This proposed analysis framework will build on existing well-to-tank and tank-to-wake methodologies.
The broad Project 28 objective is to evaluate the relative environmental impacts of multiple potential alternative aviation fuels that are compatible with existing aircraft and infrastructure. Analyses will include examining traditional kerosene fuels from conventional and unconventional petroleum resources; hydrocarbon fuels derived from fossil fuels such as oil sands and oil shale; synthetic liquid fuels manufactured from coal, biomass, or natural gas; and hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel made from renewable oil resources such as algae and halophytes.
The evaluation will include the full chain of use, from initial energy harvesting/resource extraction, to production and transportation, to use by the aviation industry, to end-of-use and disposal issues. Project 28 will consider health, welfare, and ecological impacts, including effects related to changes in non-renewable resource use, air quality, and global climate change. This work is expanding upon PARTNER Project 17 (a pending PARTNER-RAND alternative fuels report) that studies the economic and policy aspects of adopting alternative jet fuels.
Improved tools for assessing and modeling the health, air quality and ecological impacts of alternative jet fuels. Refined environmental cost-benefit analyses that will assess various alternative jet fuels and future changes to fuel specifications.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ian Waitz, Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, iaw@mit.edu
James Hileman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hileman@mit.edu
Warren Gillette, warren.gillette@faa.gov
U.S. FUEL TRENDS ANALYSIS. Presented at the Fourth Meeting of the Group on International Aviation and Climate Change (GIACC/4-I/P12), 25-27 May 2009, Montréal, Canada. Download (.pdf 7.9M)
Hileman, J., Wong, H.M., Donohoo, P., Stratton, R., Weiss, M., and Waitz, I., "Environmental Feasibility of Alternative Jet Fuels," Presentation to the UC Davis Symposium on Aviation Noise & Air Quality, Palm Springs CA, March 2, 2009
Hileman, J., Wong, H.M., Donohoo, P., Stratton, R., Weiss, M., and Waitz, I., "Life Cycle Analysis, Background and Current Progress," Presentation to the Coordinating Research Council Aviation Meeting, New Orleans LA, May 6, 2009. Download (pdf 4.2M)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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