Biofuels target of 50% set by USAF and NASA
Regular readers of the blog will know I’m always on the lookout for interesting stories about renewable energy sources or biofuels, especially when the long term application is potentially going to result some significant movement away from fossil fuels or carbon emissions. Whenever I see a military aircraft on a training flight over the desert here in Arizona I can’t help but wonder just how much fuel is being burned up to put those pilots through their paces. Beyond training of course the USAF consumes a huge amount of jet fuel every year as part of their normal operations, but the good news is that there is a significant change coming.
In keeping with other government funded bodies, the air force has been tasked with becoming more environmentally concerned and as they are leaders in aeronautical technology a move toward biofuels to power aircraft is top of that agenda. An overall goal has been published tasking the air force with converting fuel use to at least 50% biofuels in the years ahead. While the overall fuel consumption is significantly lower than fuel aviation the inspiring part of this change is that many successes could ultimately be transferred to commercial aircraft when proven to be viable. NASA in conjunction with the USAF are conducting fuel and aircraft testing at the Dryden Flight Research Centre in California. Biofuels are being tested on NASA aircraft to gauge efficiency and performance when powered by a series of new modified fuel blends.
NASA are very optimistic about test results what they are calling Hydrotreated Renewable Jet Fuel, project scientist Bruce Anderson explains more:
“It’s made out of chicken fat, actually. The Air Force bought many thousands of gallons of this to burn in some of their jets and provided about 8,000 gallons (30,283 liters) to NASA for this experiment.”
The team will be testing 50/50 mixes of biofuel and jet fuel in addition to biofuel only and monitoring the performance and results. A team effort prevails at the testing ground with representatives outside of the air force and NASA from private industries, academics and other federal branches. These new wave of testing is in some ways comparable to jet engine testing and improvements that were made from the 1940′s onwards with the benefits potentially there to be shared by the entire aviation industry. In addition to fuel performance the testing will evaluate the emissions from various synthetic blends over the course of the project. While the military have already started to use biofuels for some cargo and fighter aircraft the next level of testing is critical if the 50% target is to be reached in the years ahead. Whether it comes from corn or chicken fat isn’t the key factor but finding the right biofuel blend to change the industry will be a giant leap forward as Ruben Del Rosario of NASA stated:
“The use of alternative fuels, including biofuels, in aircraft is a key element for substantially reducing the impact of aviation on the environment and for reducing the dependency on foreign petroleum,”
So long as an increase in the use of biofuels doesn’t result in an increase in environmentally damaging activities or impact on food production, it’s all good!!
Unfortunately, here in the UK and Europe the increasing use of biofuels is likely to result in more palm oil production, which causes deforestation, major CO2 emissions, land-grabbing and other negative impacts.
We have ‘green’ power station developments which will use cheap palm oil, and therefore negate any CO2 emission reduction by the environmental damage at source.
Not all ‘green’ initiatives are environmentally-friendly when one looks at the whole picture, and anything that overall causes more damage should be avoided at all costs!!
Thanks for reading Martin, those are very valid concerns. Biofuels look to be only to a tangible solution if the factors you mention are properly considered. There will of course be some economic arm wrestling taking place from biofuels providers but it is important that good work isn’t undone by poor decisions after such transitions are ready for implementation.
The DoD recently gave a large grant to an algae to fuel project in Puerto Rico to do further research into bio fuel and mixing them with jet fuel.
I don’t think they are going to waste their money on a project that is not thoroughly researched and has already proven its success. Bio Lipidos de Puerto Rico is a shovel ready project and is seeking additional funding to go commercial. Please contact us for more information at gernot@aatic.com
Hi everyone… thought I’d interject with one of the brighter spots (imho)in the ever evolving landscape of waste-biomass fuel (turbine/electric, chemcial) Technologies, Process IP, and beta-working facilities development.
There is a highly efficacious synthetic diesel fuel (not bio-diesel) refining project (one working beta-prototype plant in the Midwest) that can process multiple types of local waste-biomass (non-food/consumable and no palm plant use) and produce not only high centane synthetic diesel fuel (refineable to jet fuel grade) but also electric power and/or (Oleo’s) synthetic chemicals. All of these outputs can be controlled in real-time so that any market change can be mirrored in immediate production output shift decisions at the processing level.
These are local plants for local waste biomass refining; for local energy production or energy grid output/sale; for local community diesel fuel production and sale. This idea of generating local fuels, electricity and synthetic “oleo” type chemicals from our local bio-waste is the beauty of this project… not simply through what a single facility can do – and do efficaciously in all relevant eco-dimensions – but what a national system of these local-refining facilities can do. Thousands of sites across the USA (and obviously globally) fit the local waste bio-mass conversion profile (20% ROI/plant). This is one piece of a complex self-sustaining puzzle, but a solid piece.
Excerpt from DOE/DOD IBR research presentation on the renewable technology “system” //
http://www.reiinternational.org/Reference%20Docs/2011%20DOE%20INTEGRATED%20BIOREFINERY%20PROJECT%20REVIEWS.pdf //
“The objective of this project is to scale-up existing, validated 10 dry ton per day (dtpd) Thermochemical Conversion and 1.0 dtpd Liquid Fuel Production systems into a 25 dtpd, integrated bio-refinery (IBR) and confirm that this plant can economically and efficiently convert biomass into a high-quality,renewable synthetic diesel (syndiesel) fuel at a production yield of 54 gallons per dtpd biomass input with minimal external energy and water input.”
Technology Commercialization Company website excerpt // http://www.prfuels.com/products.html //
“Renewable Fuels: Terra Synthetic Diesel is a clean, direct petroleum replacement that has a high cetane value, no sulfur, and excellent lubricity. Terra™ Synthetic Diesel is not a “bio-diesel”, but a high quality synthetic diesel fuel that improves diesel engine performance and reduces emissions. Terra™ Synthetic Diesel has long term storage stability, is totally compatible with today’s diesel engines, and can be blended at much higher levels than typical biofuels.
Furthermore, Terra™ Synthetic Diesel is infrastructure compatible, meaning that it can be used in existing pipelines, tanks, and other infrastructure without requiring upgrades.”