Fuel produced from discarded plastics to be used by Cessna 172 jet

Fuel produced entirely from ‘end-of-life plastic’ plastic waste will be used by a single-engine Cessna 172 aircraft, for a 10,500-mile flight from Sydney to London in July.

Operated by a British pilot Jeremy Rowsell, the flight will be initially powered by 1,000gal of aviation-grade fuel produced from approximately 5t of plastic waste such as packaging and wrapping that cannot be recycled any further.

Irish company Cynar will develop the fuel through a process called pyrolysis, where the plastic is thermochemically decomposed at high temperatures in the absence of oxygen.

Pyrolysis is also used to turn biomass into fuels such as biochar and syngas, and although this fuel has been tested in cars, it has never been tested in the flight and is in the early stages for use in aircraft engines.

About 1t of petroleum-based plastic can be converted into 900l of diesel, according to Cynar.

The plane will fly over Asia, the Middle East and the Europe at an altitude of 5,000ft, and is expected to reach London after travelling for six days, covering 1,500 miles a day at a speed of 185.07kmph.

The plastic waste will be sourced from the countries where the flight is scheduled to make stops along the way and shipped to Cynar.

Provisional stops are scheduled for 16 locations, including Bundaberg, Australia; Bali and Medan, Indonesia; Chang Mai, Thailand; Chittagong, Bangladesh; New Delhi, India; Karachi, Pakistan; Rhodes, Greece; and Nice, France.

Jeremy Rowsell said that the trip has been planned to increase awareness of new eco-friendly methods to fly, and reduce the amount of plastic waste in landfills globally.

Rowsell was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that if this plan works out, it could resolve some major environmental issues.

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Image: Fuel generated from ‘end-of-life’ plastic waste will be used to power a Cessna 172 aircraft. Photo: courtesy of Cessna.