Dallas/Fort Worth Airport First to Reuse French Fry Oil as Jet Fuel
Just think, next time you order french fries at DFW Airport you could be helping fuel your flight to a later destination that you travel to. Crazy huh? But it's being done at DFW Airport.
According to NBC DFW, DFW airport has hundreds of fryers cooking everything from fries to egg rolls, and the oil that they are using is now being reused as jet fuel.
“We generate a lot of waste, a lot of undesirable products that have to go somewhere,” said Robert Horton, DFW’s Vice President of Environmental Affairs. “What we're trying to do is find a way to remove that without creating a detrimental impact.”
The airport is collecting that oil from all those fryers, weighing 32,000 pounds, and storing it in tanks until it can be taken and refined into sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.
DFW started this process in 2019 in two of its terminals and now it has grown to five terminals and over 200 restaurants in those terminals.
“Mind-blowing, right?” said concessionaire Chalmer McWilliams. “Who would have ever expected something like this?"
The cooking oil recycling program is part of DFW's goal of being 100% net zero emissions by 2030.
The airport has partnered with Neste to convert its cooking oil to SAF. They haul it away to be processed and then bring it back as a renewable fuel for the airlines.
Unfortunately, the fuel does not smell like french fries though.
“It does not smell like french fries at all,” said Pratik Chandhoke. “If you if you look at the liquid itself, it's clear as water and there's no odor to it.”
DFW officials are hoping to find a way to make the sustainable fuel supply permanent for the airport and all the airlines.
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