JET FUEL MADE OF YOGURT

Waste products could be the whey forward

GREEK yogurt could be an unlikely source of sustainable fuel for jet engines.

Scientists have found a way to turn waste from yogurt production into a raw material for biofuel and livestock feed additives.

Whey left over from the manufacturing process mostly consists of the milk sugar lactose, the sugar fructose and lactic acid.

Researchers used bacteria to turn the cocktail into an extract containing the useful compounds caproic acid and caprylic acid.

And they say further processing to add more carbon elements to the compounds could yield a “drop-in” biofuel that can be mixed into jet fuel.

Both acids also qualified as “green antimicrobials” that could be added to livestock feed to replace standard antibiotics.

Lead researcher Professor Lars Angenent, from Cornell University, New York, said: “To be sustainable, you want to convert waste streams where they are made.

“Upstate New York is where the cows are, where the dairy farmers are, and where the Greek yogurt craze began in the US.

“That’s a lot of acid whey that has to be driven to faraway locations for land application. We want to produce valuable chemicals from it instead.

“There is much more that can be done to optimise the extraction process and scale up in an economical way.”