MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Jet fuel developed from human feces in UK

Human poo is abundant, Hygate explained

A British scientific team in Gloucestershire has successfully developed jet fuel from human feces. The product has been reported to be almost identical to the conventional kerosene used in modern aviation. “We wanted to find a really low-value feedstock that was highly abundant; and of course poo is abundant,” Firefly Green Fuels CEO James Hygate explained.

The team of scientists collaborated with Cranfield University to assess the carbon impact of the fuel's life cycle and concluded that the new fuel has a 90% lower carbon footprint than standard jet fuel. Furthermore, independent testing by international aviation regulators confirmed that the result is almost identical to conventional propellant. “The opportunities in very populous cities are enormous. The amount of fuel we can create is huge,” Hygate admitted.

Although chemically similar to fossil kerosene, the product developed by Firefly Green Fuels is “fossil-free” in that it has no fossil carbon. Despite requiring energy in production, the 90% savings in the fuel's lifecycle carbon footprint is impressive and more sustainable compared to fossil fuels, given aviation's significant contribution to climate change, which accounts for about 2% of global carbon emissions, Hygate also pointed out.

”Of course, energy would be used (in production), but when looking at the fuel's life cycle, a 90% saving is mind-blowing, so yes, we have to use energy but it is much lower compared to the production of fossil fuels,“ added Hygate, who began turning rapeseed oil into 'bio-diesel' for cars and trucks 20 years ago on a small farm in Gloucestershire. Then he started looking for ways to make green jet fuel. They tried waste oils, waste food, and even agricultural scraps before turning to its newest input after teaming up with Imperial College, London, Chemist Sergio Lima.

”What we are producing here is a fuel which is net zero,“ the Firefly Green Fuels Research Director Lima said. ”This is so exciting because it was produced from a sustainable feedstock, to which all of us are contributing.”

Green Fuels now sells equipment to turn cooking oil into biodiesel to clients all over the world.