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This sounds kinda interesting...

By Dusty (AKA Attila of Argghhh!) on December 30, 2008 | | Comments (5)
If this pans out, i.e., sustainable production can be generated at a level that meets world-wide commercial demand, it would be pretty cool... 

There are a number of considerations when formulating jet fuel and this biofuel mixture seems to have addressed each:
- Sufficient flow at low temperatures to allow gravity feed when fuel pumps fail
- Resistance to freezing at the temperatures normally experienced at long-range cruise altitudes (-50C and lower)
- No significant fouling of fuel injection nozzles, burner cans, turbine buckets and other engine components involved in or directly affected by the fuel burn process
Moreover, this is pretty neat:
Biofuels emit as much carbon as kerosene-based jet fuel, but jatropha - a Mexican plant that grows in warm climates - absorbs about half the carbon that jatropha-based fuels release. Air New Zealand's proposed blend, for example, would mean a one-quarter reduction in the carbon footprint of standard jet fuel.
Not to mention the impact it may have on food prices if it can supplant ethanol in a significant way.

I just hope the guvmint stays away from the research and (assuming it works) commercial fielding of this stuff long enough for the markets to maximize efficiency in producing, refining and distributing it.

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5 Comments

By Argent on December 30, 2008 12:20 PM
I have a lot of Greenie in me but ethanol fuels made from things like corn are a stupid idea.  It's the price of subsidies I guess.  Ethanol is just one option there's other biofuels mostly made from plant or algae sterols.  Ethanol is still useful if i can be made from non food materials.

There's also less enviro-happy solutions involving coal which are still better and in many ways more practical.
 
By BillT on December 30, 2008 12:32 PM
- No significant fouling of fuel injection nozzles, burner cans, turbine buckets and other engine components involved in or directly affected by the fuel burn process.

What might be considered "not significant" to a lab tester might warrant another looksee at FL320 on the Anchorage to Hong-Kong run...
 
By Randy K on December 30, 2008 4:25 PM
How cool is that... I read over this and I though to myself, why does this sound so familiar. That would be because I work for one of the companies that worked on that flight, the "biofuel specialist". I support a few of the people that were on that flight.

Needless to say, I can't say much... mostly because I'm a IT guy and don't understand 95% of what the people I support do on a technical level, but i can say that this is just a stepping stone. I do know that one of the big things we're looking to try using is algae as a feed stock. Heh... think of it now, having our Navy putting big algae nets at the back of the ships to be more green and the chiefs setting up big stills on the fantail making AvGas!

This is a good article about what were working on.

I just hope the guvmint stays away from the research and (assuming it works) commercial fielding of this stuff long enough for the markets to maximize efficiency in producing, refining and distributing it.

I know we're working with DARPA and the USAF on some of this stuff, so the guvmint is involved, but were VERY good at making this stuff commercially viable, so you shouldn't have to worry too much... of course it is the government we're talking about, so who knows.


 
By BillT on December 31, 2008 1:34 AM
Also from the NTSB press release:
Other environmental groups have hailed these efforts, although Friends of the Earth said that any carbon savings from crop-based fuels would be negligible and that efforts should instead be made to reduce air travel. The group has said that the carbon savings will be erased by growth in the aviation industry.

In Burlingame, David Cush, the president and chief executive officer of Virgin America, the only airline based in California, said he would welcome a world in which airlines could make maximum use of biofuels. But he said economic circumstances must be in place before floors for energy prices will work.

Cush said jet biofuel can be refined at $3 per gallon, which looked good in July when jet fuel was $4.50 per gallon. It doesn't look so good in December, he said, when the industry is paying $1.40.

"Unfortunately, for biofuel-makers, those economic circumstances that existed several months ago have now gone away," Cush said.
 
Note the Greenie-Weenies' response?

"... any carbon savings from crop-based fuels would be negligible and that efforts should instead be made to reduce air travel."

The camel's crawling deeper into the tent.

 
By Josh on December 31, 2008 2:26 AM
Am I the only one who gets more irritation than a bath in tabasco sauce every time I hear the word "green" misused as a blanket term for tree-hugging?

Anyway, what ever happened to that airplane with atomic engines?  I'm not going to be satisfied until I make all my trips on Nuke-Air!