In this post, I continue with the aviation industry and reducing carbon emissions. Specifically, United Airlines plans to become Carbon-Neutral by 2050 through carbon capture and more eco-friendly fuels.
After some research, I found the company United is going to partner with for eco-friendly fuels is Fulcrum Bioenergy. For carbon capture, United is going to partner with Carbon Engineering which I cover in my other blog.
Fulcrum Bioenergy’s mission is to alleviate fuel emissions by 100%. To fulfill their promise, their focus is on a natural source of fuel which is our garbage. Each year, 300 million tons of waste is produced and is estimated to reach 3.4 billion by 2050.
Their concept is to intercept household waste to be sent to their facility. Here they separate out the metals and other inorganic waste, that cannot be used, to be sent to the landfill. They take the remaining dried organic waste in trucks to their biorefinery, where it is converted into bio-fuel, or syngas.
Using garbage is a very low-cost feedstock making it economically viable, and allowing Fulcrum Bioenergy to put their money into systems that create the fuel. Hence, Fulcrum Bioenergy can positively impact the environment.
These plants have already started production in May of 2022. The first locations were Nevada and Indiana. They also now have a facility in the UK.
All this might seem very simple, but years of research go into creating these fuels. As a society, we are finally becoming a little more conscious of the environment, but we still have a long way to go. This kind of approach is very promising and makes me hopeful about what the future has to hold. In the meantime, we need to do our part as we are starting to run out of time.
SOURCES
https://www.fulcrum-bioenergy.com/plants-overview#gary-in
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