By Will Nichols, Source: BusinessGreen

A British adventurer hopes to help change the face of the airline industry by completing a record-breaking flight from Sydney to London in a single engine aircraft powered entirely by fuel made from plastic waste.

Setting off in a Cessna 182 later this year, former aerobatics and Flying Doctors pilot Jeremy Rowsell plans to stop along the 10,000-mile route at Darwin, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka, Oman, Jordan, and Malta, cruising at 5,000 feet for stretches of up to 13 hours, before touching down in London six days later.

The diesel engine plane will run on fuel developed by Irish company Cynar Plc, which melts down waste plastics in an oxygen-free environment, a process known as pyrolysis, to create the equivalent of a petroleum distillate that can be separated into different fuels.

Cynar says this technique releases absolutely no emissions and the end product is not only cleaner than conventional diesel, it is also of a higher quality, while the small amount of plastics that cannot be converted to fuels are instead used to make floor coverings.

Although the plastic-derived fuel has been tested in cars, this is the first real-life trial in an aircraft, although commercial airlines have experimented with biofuels made from energy crops, food waste, and industrial gases in jet engines.

While these alternatives have been dogged by claims there is simply not enough waste to build a viable green aviation fuel industry, Cynar chief executive Michael Murray told BusinessGreen stocks of plastic in landfills and increasing consumer demand for the material will ensure there will always be synthetic fuel reserves.

“There’s 26 million tonnes [of plastics] in the US going into landfill each year and 15 million in Europe,” he said. “I think [the fuel] can be a viable alternative if the industry adopts diesel-type engines. It’ll need testing and trials, but for a diesel engine not going beyond 8,000 feet, it should be fine.”

The 400 litres needed to complete the London to Sydney flight is expected to require around five tonnes of plastic waste, suggesting that if large quantities of plastic waste can be secured the fuel could provide a green alternative for small aircraft.

Rowsell said the journey, likely to take place in November, would help the industry tackle some major environmental problems.

“Flying is critical to the economy, vital for saving lives and is the best way to experience the planet we live on,” he added in a statement. “We can’t stop flying, but how can we do that and do it sustainably?

“Our objective is to prove that this synthetic fuel made from plastic waste is viable for a number of practical solutions and by doing so replace the need to use fossil fuels from conventional sources.”