Egypt experimentally engineers biofuel for jet engines
Egypt’s National Research Centre has announced the production and successful experimentation of a biofuel suitable to power aircrafts. Commercial aviation contributes about 2 % of global carbon emissions annually, and the International Air Transport Association, aims to halve carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The biofuel was based on the oil seeds of the jatropha tree. It adapted for jet engines through a thermal cracking process and chemical additives which optimize the viscosity and degree of combustion while lowering the freezing point of the fuel which needs to be at least minus 45 degrees C°. Cultivations of jatropha are already present in Upper Egypt and the success of the biofuel production experiments will likely lead to their future expansion. Khaled Fouad, an aeronautical engineering from Zagazig University in Egypt, commented on the advantages of jatropha-based biofuels “it is a non-edible tree for humans and animals, which grows in sandy desert soil and gets irrigated by sewage water - making it a unique source of biofuels.”
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region offers considerable potential for energy production from biomass. Traditionally, biomass energy has been widely used in the region’s rural areas for domestic purposes. A potential of about 400TWh of biomass energy per year has recently been estimated for the Euro-Mediterranean region. In addition to energy crops such as jatropha, which are highly suited for commercial exploitation, the region is endowed with rich biomass resources in the form of municipal solid waste, crop residues and agro-industrial waste. The implementation of advanced biomass conversion technologies as a method for safe disposal of solid and liquid biomass wastes, offers an attractive option to generate heat, power and fuels.
The high rate of population growth, urbanization and economic expansion in the region accelerates the production of biomass resources. The major biomass producing countries in the region are Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Municipal waste has been assessed at more than 150 million tons annually. The quantity of sewage sludge produced is also rising at an annual rate of 25 %. The food processing industry, particularly dairy and oil processing plants, produce increasing amounts of organic by-products. Large quantities of underutilised crop residues could be processed to produce electricity and heat in rural areas, while animal manure from the livestock sector, in particular sheep, goats and camels, provides a potentially important source of biogas.