British Royal Air Force and energy producer Zero Petroleum have set a Guinness World Record for the world’s first successful flight using only synthetic fuel. An Ikarus C42 microlight aircraft recently completed a short flight powered by synthetic fuel at Cotswold Airport. This writes the UK Ministry of Defence in a press release.
Zero Petroleum’s UL91 synthetic fuel is made by extracting hydrogen from water and carbon from carbon dioxide from the air. Using energy generated from renewable sources such as wind or solar, these are combined to create the synthetic fuel.
Saving carbon
This innovation is part of the RAF’s MARTIN project and has the potential to save 80-90% carbon per flight, supporting the RAF’s vision that synthetic fuels will play an important role in powering the fast jets of the future. “This project with the Royal Air Force demonstrates the relevance of our synthetic fuel and its potential to eliminate fossil CO2 emissions from a number of difficult but critical sectors, including transport,” explained Paddy Lowe, CEO of Zero Petroleum.
