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Manin, Julien Luc

Publications and source records attributed to Manin, Julien Luc.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel Combustion, Soot, and Contrail Formation

The aviation industry stands at a crossroads, facing the dual challenge of meeting the growing global demand for air travel while mitigating its environmental impact. As concerns over climate change intensify, sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) have emerged as a promising solution to reduce the carbon footprint of air travel. The aviation sector has long been recognized as a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, with carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) being a primary concern. SAFs, derived from renewable feedstocks such as biomass, waste oils, or synthetic processes, offer a promising avenue for reducing the net carbon emissions associated with aviation. While SAFs have shown potential in lowering CO 2 emissions, the combustion process introduces complexities related to soot particle formation and contrail generation that require comprehensive exploration. These aspects are pivotal not only for their environmental implications but also for their influence on atmospheric climate interactions. As the aviation industry increasingly embraces SAFs to meet sustainability goals, it is imperative to assess their combustion characteristics, unravel the mechanisms of soot formation, and scrutinize the factors influencing contrail development.

09 BIOMASS FUELS

Nucleation and Contrail Formation

Condensation trails, or contrails, are aircraft-induced cirrus clouds. They come from the formation of water droplets, later converting to ice crystals as a result of water vapor condensing on aerosols either emitted by the aircraft engines or already present in the upper atmosphere. While there is ongoing debate about their true impact, contrails are estimated to be a major contributor to climate forcing from aviation. We remind that air transportation currently accounts for about 5 % of the global anthropogenic climate forcing, and that it is anticipated that air traffic will double in the coming decade or two. The expected growth reinforces the urgency of the need to develop a plan to better understand contrail formation and persistence, and deploy means to reduce or avoid contrail formation, or greatly mitigate their impact. It is evident that contrails should be part of the picture when developing a plan to make the aviation sector sustainable.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES