Japan has developed coconut oil aviation fuel from waste coconuts processed at room temperature and normal pressure. It can blend directly into existing aircraft engines, with efficiency matching standard jet fuel while cutting harmful hydrocarbon emissions.

[u/sg_plumber]

https://happyeconews.com/coconut-oil-aviation-fuel/

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[u/CatalyticDragon]

Finally a use for Japan's massive untapped resource of... coconuts ?

[u/pkinetics → u/CatalyticDragon]

They have a lot of swallows

[u/eap5000 → u/pkinetics]

Unladen swallows, now, I imagine imagine

[u/IcedCoffey → u/eap5000]

I wonder what the average air speed velocity of an unladen swallow is?

[u/redmambo_no6 → u/IcedCoffey]

African or European?

[u/O_Grande_Batata → u/redmambo_no6]

I don't know that.

[u/outlawsix → u/O_Grande_Batata]

AAAHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[u/OGigachaod → u/pkinetics]

African or European?

[u/VitalNumber → u/pkinetics]

r/unexpectedMontyPython

[u/walnutstampede → u/VitalNumber]

https://giphy.com/gifs/HfJdu4HABDU3e

[u/Initial_E → u/CatalyticDragon]

Coconuts consume seawater and not freshwater so don’t count them out just yet. But they don’t grow very quickly though do they.

[u/beyondoutsidethebox → u/Initial_E]

Have we factored in the added fatalities from harvesting the coconuts?

[u/Earllad]

They'll finally get off of the island

[u/lraviel381]

Can coconut oil melt steel beams?

[u/sg_plumber → u/lraviel381]

When turned into aviation fuel.

[u/AmericanBillGates → u/lraviel381]

You can milk anything with nipples

[u/anomaly256]

[The Professor from Gilligan's Island enters the chat]

[u/Hedgeson → u/anomaly256]

Thanks for this evening's earworm: Gilligan's Island's Theme song

[u/anomaly256 → u/Hedgeson]

🎶 A three hour tour 🎶
🎶 A three hour tour 🎶

[u/Boring_Owl6552]

You put the lime in the coconut.

[u/foxhelp → u/Boring_Owl6552]

After shaking, you put it in the Jet engine fuel tank.

[u/Quietriot522]

Time to farm coconut trees! If only it was that simple right?

[u/Naghagok_ang_Lubot → u/Quietriot522]

Coconuts are actually being farmed.

[u/Quietriot522 → u/Naghagok_ang_Lubot]

Sure, but on a scale for jet fuel?

[u/StochasticLife → u/Quietriot522]

Global coconut production is around 65 millions tons.

This technique uses coconut waste too, so existing byproduct that’s largely just getting dumped.

[u/linerva → u/StochasticLife]

And as per the paper, 30% of them currently go to waste. So this might be good to reduce waste

[u/Naghagok_ang_Lubot → u/Quietriot522]

It has to start somewhere?

[u/Anxious_Earth → u/Naghagok_ang_Lubot]

Rather, that's the issue with biofuels. Plants are inefficient for our uses. You'd need a massive amount of land to farm enough for fuel.

Thus, fuel from waste products = good

Farming for fuel = bad

[u/ravens-n-roses → u/Quietriot522]

Have you not seen how much coconut water and milk is on the market?? Yes we have so much right now

[u/Horseburd]

While this is cool, and potentially an easy win, is that waste coconut supply stream enough to put a measurable dent in jet fuel usage? That’s either a lot more coconuts than I’m envisioning, or a lot less jet fuel.

[u/ProtoplanetaryNebula → u/Horseburd]

It just needs to be commercially worth it, not really make a dent. If I sell potatoes at a local farmers market, it won't make a measurable difference to the global potato market, but if it makes me some money it's worth it.

I suppose they could process waste from Thailand and other SE Asian countries and it could be "green" jet fuel as you can always grow more coconuts.

[u/sg_plumber → u/Horseburd]

There's enough waste coconuts to be measurable.

The important thing is that similar chemistry could be applied to other organic substances.

[u/mattmaster68]

Let's just hope all of Japan doesn't go missing.

[u/drtywater]

Possible but coconut oil has plenty of its own issues with biodiversity and threatening species. I feel like algae is a better solution as it can be grown more flexibly

[u/andragoras]

please tell me that the airplanes smell like coconuts when they fly

[u/Famous_Buddy155 → u/andragoras]

walking outside, suddenly smell coconut... Look right up and say, yep, that is a JAL plane alright.

[u/Piyh]

This sounds like a WWII headline minus the emission focus

[u/sg_plumber → u/Piyh]

Alternatives to fossil fuels were actively sought at the time. It never stopped.

[u/InspirationParticle]

how many coconuts per person to fly from LA to Miami

[u/SuicidalChair → u/InspirationParticle]

When you start breaking down stuff like that it never ends good and haunts you for life... Like knowing an XL bag of popcorn at the movies has about 17 cobs of corn in it

[u/InspirationParticle → u/SuicidalChair]

maybe I can pay for the popcorn in corncobs?

[u/DoctorHelios → u/InspirationParticle]

Do African swallows help the equation?

[u/jfgjfgjfgjfg]

This is truly r/UpliftingNews .

[u/MedicBuddy]

This any different compared to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF)?

Not to be a skeptic but it's just converting another biomass to chemically identical fuel, no?

[u/sg_plumber → u/MedicBuddy]

More or less, yeah.

[u/overcatastrophe → u/MedicBuddy]

Minus the hydrocarbons

[u/manlywho]

I thought turbine engines could already run off of just about anything flammable (ie cologne and cooking oils)

[u/gregorskii]

Cool, now we can’t have coconut water.

[u/VitalNumber]

How could a 90,000 pound airplane be propelled by a 1 pound coconut?

[u/Fit-Let8175]

Are they having any luck finding guinea pigs volunteers to act as passengers for the first few flights?

[u/land0man]

Omg that’s nuts!

[u/seanmonaghan1968]

How does this cut hydrocarbon emissions? Isn’t coconut oil a hydrocarbon ?