How we will fly greener with red tomatoes in future

02/05/2026 | Science & Education

Extracted tomato residues in the shaking funnel. Photo credit: TU Graz/Lunghammer

Aviation is one of the biggest challenges on the road to greater climate protection. While other transport sectors are already increasingly focussing on electrification, aircraft are still dependent on liquid fuels. This is precisely where an innovative European research project coordinated by Graz University of Technology comes in. The aim is to produce sustainable aviation fuel from tomato waste and thus utilise agricultural waste in a meaningful way. After harvesting, tomato plants provide large quantities of residues such as stems, leaves, skins, seeds or non-marketable fruit. This potential has hardly been utilised to date.

By converting this biomass into sustainable aviation fuel, an important contribution is to be made to reducing CO₂ emissions in air traffic. At the same time, the principle of the circular economy is strengthened by converting waste from food production into a high-quality energy source.

Innovative processes for fuel production

The project centres on the development of efficient and economical processes for processing tomato waste. Two different technologies are being utilised. Firstly, the biomass is broken down by extrusion under high pressure and at an elevated temperature so that its organic components can be processed more easily. Secondly, hydrothermal liquefaction is used to produce bio-oil and biochar from the residues.

Lipids and bio-oils are then isolated from the intermediate products obtained and refined in further steps to produce a fuel suitable for aviation. The end product should comply with international standards for sustainable aviation fuel and be able to be used in existing aircraft engines without technical modifications. This brings a practical solution for more climate-friendly air transport within reach.

European cooperation with future prospects

The project brings together research institutes, universities and industrial partners from several European countries. In addition to technical development, ecological and economic aspects are also being analysed in order to assess feasibility on an industrial scale. At the same time, the training of young scientists plays an important role.

#It is #schongenial that the use of tomato residues could make a measurable contribution to meeting the demand for sustainable aviation fuel in the long term.