As the airline industry attempts to decrease its carbon footprint, several alternative fuel options are in development, including biojet, a subset of biofuels that mimics the behavior of conventional jet fuel. Unlike with hydrogen or electrification, biojet could be used in current planes largely as they are, without requiring any engine changes or major shakeups to fuel infrastructure.
“The burden of switching over doesn’t lie with the airline industry. That’s why I think it’s a more feasible solution," MechSE professor Tonghun Lee said in a recent LA Times article. Lee studies alternative clean fuels and is working on developing technologies that will allow the U.S. Army’s unmanned air and ground vehicles to run on any type of fuel.