TRI-CITIES, Wash. – On the south side of Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus, inside the Bioproducts, Sciences and Engineering Lab, WSU Research Assistant Professor Harrison Yang and a team of researchers are working on advancing sustainable air travel.
“Our mission is to accelerate the sustainable aviation fuel development,” Yang said.
The Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator is working to scale production of lower-carbon jet fuel. Yang emphasized Washington State University’s pivotal role in testing fuel samples.
“This is the only official FAA, Federal Aviation Administration, prescreened lab. So all the sustainable aviation fuel producers that are going through the qualification process right now have worked with us in some capacity. So we help them to get their process ready,” Yang said.
To qualify as sustainable, the fuel must reduce carbon emissions by about 50% from production to combustion, according to Yang.
“So it’s a synthetic fuel that is made from non petroleum source. So non petroleum source could come from the CO2 we break down in the air. It could come from ethanol. It could come from woody biomass. It could come from fatty acid. So anything has carbon in there, you can make sustainable aviation fuel,” Yang said.
The accelerator receives funding from state dollars, private donors and the Department of Transportation.
“FAA wants to support domestic fuel production, sustainable aviation fuel production,” Yang said.
Yang noted that sustainable aviation fuels are among the most promising methods to reduce emissions while maintaining safety and reliability in air travel. This effort is part of a broader nationwide initiative to replace conventional jet fuels in the next three decades.
“There’s really not a timeline, but everyone’s working towards the same goal to beat the 2050 net-zero goals. Which means a lot of the fuel, to which means a lot of pathways that currently does not exist, is to somehow get qualified,” Yang said.
More information about the Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator can be found here.
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