Dr. Sarah Qureshi is working on an engine that significantly reduces aircrafts’ contribution to global warming

The news: The world’s first eco-friendly aircraft engine is being developed in Pakistan by Dr. Sarah Qureshi. An aerospace engineer, and CEO of Aero Engine Craft, Dr. Qureshi has been working on this project since 2018 in hopes to reduce the negative effects of commercial airplane engines on the environment.

The invention: Dr. Qureshi’s invention contains a modular add-on pressure-based condensation system. This system separates the water vapors present in contrail, emitted by aircrafts during flight. It then cools down and condenses the water vapors into water. This water is collected and stored inside the engine, and can then be used to induce artificial rainfall or for emission trading. In an interview, Dr. Qureshi explained that it could still take five or six years for the engine to be available for commercial airplanes.

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Eco-friendly: Dr Qureshi emphasizes that the water vapors emitted by aircrafts affect the atmosphere five times more than carbon dioxide and contribute 15% toward global warming, which is much more than the 3-4% contribution of carbon dioxide emitted from aircrafts. Aircrafts emit a combination of gasses while flying, called a contrail. The contrail includes greenhouse gasses like water vapors and carbon dioxide. After emission, the water vapors spread in the Earth’s stratosphere and take the form of artificial clouds due to low temperatures at high altitudes. They can be seen as a trail of clouds left by an aircraft. These artificial clouds, however, do not cause rainfall and contribute to global warming and climate change in the world. The first contrail-free aircraft engine will be ready for testing by the end of this year.

Save Earth: Qureshi took up this cause for her research at Cranfield University, UK, and then continued it to establish an aircraft manufacturing company, Aero Engine Craft. She is currently working on a scaled-down version of the aircraft engine, and once it is tested and approved, she will start working on the full-scale commercial engine. She believes the aviation industry has ignored the need to create environmentally safe aircraft engines and focused instead on building fuel-efficient engines for commercial gain. She said that this project would require the contributions of the aviation industry as well. Dr. Qureshi remarked that unless we have a confirmed ticket to Mars, Earth is all we have and it must be saved.