Nuclear-driven method turns waste to biofuel additives

Published in Nature Communications Chemistry, the research proposes a process to generate additive solketal using waste from biochemical and nuclear industries — termed a nuclear biorefinery.

Researchers believe the advance could help progress toward net zero ambitions and allow for the renewable biofuel additives to be used in modern petroleum fuel blends, with the renewable portion of petrol forecast to increase to 20 per cent by 2030.

“Co-generation with nuclear energy is an important area of current research, for example, using heat alongside the production of electricity,” said Malcolm Joyce, professor of nuclear engineering at Lancaster University. 

“We set out to determine whether radiation might also present a similar possibility, and discovered that it can: in this case yielding a low-carbon fuel additive.”

Process increases viability of biofuels from plant waste

Reliable, low-carbon energy from nuclear or biofuels is integral to many carbon emissions reduction strategies, however nuclear plants have high upfront costs and the manufacture of biodiesel produces waste glycerol which has few secondary uses.