Taking off into cleaner skies with LANL research on SAF

In Australia, Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are working on producing bio-derived chemicals that could be used to develop more sustainable jet fuels and developed a method for increasing the energy content of aviation fuel derived from bio-based feedstocks.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office through the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium, the team at LANL has developed a method for increasing the energy content of aviation fuel derived from bio-based feedstocks.

Using acetone and ultraviolet (UV) light, the team can produce molecules with a 12% higher energy content than Jet-A, which is the fuel that powers modern commercial airliners.