NASA study shows aviation biofuels reduce GHG emissions at least 50%

In California, NASA researchers recently took to the skies for the second year in a row with a DC-8 and other aircraft to study the effects on emissions and contrail formation of burning alternative fuels in jet engines.

This follow-up set of Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions flight tests, known as ACCESS II, repeated a similar series of tests flown during 2013, while also adding a few new wrinkles to the investigations to capture more and better data. Within NASA, ACCESS II was a joint project involving researchers at the Armstrong, Langley, and Glenn research centers. The research supports NASA aeronautics’ strategic vision, which has as a goal to enable transition of industry to low-carbon fuels and alternative propulsion systems.

A quick look at the ACCESS II data confirmed with high certainty the results from ACCESS I, which showed at least a 50 percent reduction in soot emissions from the DC-8 when it burns the blended fuel as opposed to the jet fuel alone.