Solar Energy Could Be Key to Making Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Solar energy could be key to making sustainable aviation fuel

A new way of making sustainable aviation fuel that could cut the reliance on used cooking oil as a feedstock has been developed by a team of engineers led by the University of Sheffield. The new technique captures CO2 from the air, combines it with hydrogen, and then heats it using concentrated solar energy to produce the fuel. For their study published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers used comprehensive computer modeling an…

SAF from solar energy could be scaled to industrial levels

The University of Sheffield has developed a new way of making sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) using solar energy and believes it could be scaled to industrial levels. On March 30, 2026, the UK-based university said that an international team of engineers has been researching techniques which could reduce the reliance on used cooking oil to produce SAF. The new process captures CO2 from the air, combines it with hydrogen and then heats it using c…