The Issues of Synthetic Fuel Use in Aviation

Abstract

In recent years, an extraordinary amount of greenhouse gases have entered the atmosphere, a non-negligible part of it is related to aviation. Different types of synthetic fuels seem to be one of the most promising alternatives to replace the currently used crude oil, which has been produced since the 1930s. Due to their „drop-in” nature, their main properties are the same as conventional jet fuels, so they are compatible with most types of aircraft. However, the production
of synthetic fuels in many cases involves a difficult or much more expensive process than in the
case of traditional kerosene. Many plans have already been created to solve these problems. The
implementation and the development of new procedures are currently underway, taking into
account the goal of achieving carbon-neutral
and then carbon-free military and civil aviation by
the deadlines of 2030 and 2050. In this article, synthetic alternative fuels are presented, which
could potentially be suitable for replacing kerosene. My aim is to present the most important results achieved so far and to predict the possible future of the use of synthetic fuels.