Today’s good news comes from the Good News Network.
Coconut Oil Could Make Great Sustainable Jet Fuel, Pioneering Experiments Demonstrate
Chemists in Japan recently ran extensive experiments to see whether they could create sustainable aviation fuel from coconut oil, and they not only succeeded, but also outperformed existing biofuels across several metrics.
Compared with the high pressures and intense heating required to synthesize sustainable aviation fuel from existing biofuel feedstocks, the chemists’ co-solvent method produced an aviation-compatible fuel at room temperature and pressure, with lower heat input.
This minimized the fuel’s carbon footprint even before the researchers cut it with kerosene, poured it into a micro jet engine, and set it on fire to see what would happen.
The ultimate tests—how the mixture performed in the engine—showed “thermal efficiency… comparable to that of pure kerosene.” One drawback in pure performance metrics was slightly higher fuel consumption because coconut oil ignites at a lower temperature.
In terms of the emissions profile, the largest observed improvements over kerosene were reduced unburned hydrocarbon emissions. Called UHCs in the industry, or sometimes VOCs (volatile organic compounds) they include substances like butane, and result from incomplete fuel combustion and fuel vaporization.
Their formation depends heavily on the aircraft’s state. When the aircraft is taxiing or idling and engine temperatures are lower, it releases UHCs in much greater proportions, but these emissions were reduced by 5-40% depending on the amount of coconut fuel added, with larger amounts of biofuel resulting in greater reductions in UHC emissions.
CO2 and nitric oxide levels remained consistent with kerosene regardless of the blending ratios, which ranged from 10% biofuel-90% kerosene to a 50-50 blend.
The coconut biofuel really proved compelling in its production process: the co-solvent method. Here, they used coconut fruit discarded during commercial oil extraction, combined it with 10% acetone and an alcohol (either methanol or ethanol), and processed it first at room temperature, then at temperatures below boiling.
The process also produces glycerin and biodiesel as byproducts, while the acetone and alcohol reagents can be recovered and reused.
The team from Osaka Metropolitan University described their work as the first-ever experiments to create biofuels from coconuts and test them in a jet engine. They believe more research is needed before they can commercialize the process, mainly because they observed increased carbon monoxide emissions when the biofuel was blended with jet fuel, which could harm ground crews.
The good news is that this could be an acceptable, sustainable alternative to jet fuel that may reduce unburned fuel contaminants. Today’s JohnKu talks about perseverance. I hope you have a terrific weekend.
Success by John W. Howell © 2026
A common substance,
Repurposed for the better . . .
Shows perseverance.
“Hey you Two. How about we try on some Halloween costumes?”
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Might want to be careful here.
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”
