Company in England experiments with human waste to produce a 'net zero' aviation fuel

According to Firefly Green Fuels chief executive's calculations, each human produces enough sewage per year to produce 4 to 5 liters of bio jet fuel.

Published: December 29, 2023 3:44pm

A company in Gloucestershire, England, has devised a way to produce jet fuel from human sewage in an effort to make net-zero emissions for air travel.



Firefly Green Fuels, the BBC reports, had been looking for ways to make green jet fuel, with a number of feedstocks, including waste oils, waste food and agricultural scraps.



Finally, they began experimenting with human waste.



"We wanted to find a really low-value feedstock that was highly abundant. And of course poo is abundant,” James Hygate, Firefly Green Fuels CEO, told the BBC.



Hygate teamed up with a chemist from Imperial College in London and developed a “bio crude,” as they call it, which looks and behaves chemically like oil.



According to Hygate’s calculations, each human produces enough sewage per year to produce 4 to 5 liters of bio jet fuel.



A round-trip flight from London to New York, the BBC notes, would need the annual sewage of 20,000 people. The total sewage supply of the United Kingdom would meet 5% of the country’s total aviation fuel demand.

The Facts Inside Our Reporter's Notebook

Unlock unlimited access

  • No Ads Within Stories
  • No Autoplay Videos
  • VIP access to exclusive Just the News newsmaker events hosted by John Solomon and his team.
  • Support the investigative reporting and honest news presentation you've come to enjoy from Just the News.
  • Just the News Spotlight

    Support Just the News