Production of renewable jet fuel from waste
Partners: Greenfield Global, The University of Alberta
One significant source of greenhouse gas emissions is from the transportation sector. While some transportation methods can be replaced with electric alternatives, liquid fuels are still needed in the aviation industry. At the same time, we continue to produce significant quantities of waste which decompose to produce CH4 and CO2 emissions. Dr. Naomi Klinghoffer is partnering with Greenfield Global to develop a solution that will reduce emissions by producing renewable jet fuel from forestry residues or municipal solid waste (MSW). Converting distributed residues to valuable products is often done in a centralized biorefinery because of the expertise and inputs that are required to operate these facilities. However, transportation of low energy density residues is expensive and energy intensive, resulting in high CO2 emissions. This project will develop a low cost and easy to operate process for producing an energy dense feedstock from waste which can be transported to a biorefinery where it will be fed into a gasification process. The gasification process produces synthesis gas, composed of H2 and CO, which is used to synthesize renewable jet fuel. Through this process, we can reduce waste generation and offset the production of CO2 from fossil fuels.
Researcher Biography
Dr. Klinghoffer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, with an appointment at Western’s Institute for Chemicals and Fuels from Alternative Resources (ICFAR).
Dr. Klinghoffer received her Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from McGill University in 2007. She received her Masters of Science (2010) and Doctoral (2013) degrees from Columbia University in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering. Her post-doctoral work was carried out at The City College of New York where she also had an appointment as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.
Prior to joining Western University, Dr. Klinghoffer worked for five years at Gas Technology Institute (GTI) Energy, a research and development organization, where her work focused on developing transformative energy technologies and making them market-ready. At GTI Energy, she was the PI for a $2.4 million ARPA-E funded research program focused on developing a catalytic membrane reactor for the production of renewable fuels from CO2 and H2.
