Executive Summary
Net Zero Emission Energy Systems
The aviation industry contributes highly to environmental pollution. Given that planes travel for long distances, they contribute to 830 and 1060 Mt of carbon dioxide when combined with other long-distance models (Davis, Lewis, Mathew, & Arent, 2018).With the increasing demand for travel, the emission rates are set to increase significantly, worsening the environmental conditions.
Emissions through air transport are due to volumetric and gravimetric challenges. Unlike light-duty vehicles, aircrafts have a payload capacity and revenue cargo space that dictate a lot of energy to operate due to gravity and volume issues (Davis et al., 2018). Although hydrogen driven planes may avail this energy, many companies would still prefer using liquid fuels for transportation reasons.
Liquid fuels, which are a viable option for the aviation industry are the result of biofuel production through thermochemical processes. The fuels like hydrogen, ammonia, and alcohols can be obtained from feeds like agricultural residues, and woody crops (Davis et al., 2018). The process is guaranteed to result in zero emissions in the aviation and overall transportation industry.
The commercial success of zero-emission in the transport industry is fraught with challenges that hamper its success. Firstly, it is expensive to produce biofuels on a large scale. Additionally, biofuel production relies on technology. Equally, the demand for fuel in the industry has to be substantial enough to prompt the generation of biofuel. While biofuel is beneficial to the aviation industry, the costs, technology, and demand could slow down its use in aviation.
References
Davis, S., Lewis, N., Mathew, S. & Arent, D. (2018). Net-Zero Emissions Energy Systems.Science, 360 (6,396). Retrieved from http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6396/eaas9793
Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?