Fred Dryer, Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in Princeton hopes to see ‘green skies‘ in the future. He plans to do so by developing greener alternative fuels for air jets to reduce pollution in the sky.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the aviation sector is responsible for around 10% of the greenhouse gas emissions – that is about 2.7% of the country’s total emissions.
According to a research report published by RxPG, Prof. Dryer says that the alternative fuels need to be compatible with petroleum and produce similar combustion performance. The first of its kind project is funded by the U.S. Air force to develop computational and kinetic models that accurately simulate the burning of jet fuel and to develop jet fuels with near-zero net green house emissions.
Dryer and his associate researchers will develop methods to predict and evaluate how jet fuels will behave in actual engines and characterize the emissions they will produce. The models developed by the team will represent and characterize the behavior of this broad range of jet fuel species using only a few types of molecular structures as surrogates for the larger whole.
The success of the synthetic fuels will depend on how well they compare with traditional fuels cost wise, safety wise and in terms of fuel characteristics and environmental issues according to the researchers.
Developing feasible alternatives to petroleum for the aviation industry will be a long and expensive process, according to Prof. Dryer.
Should this venture be a success, the ‘green skies’ would ensure a safer earth!
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