TECH TALK
ARE WE STILL PURSUING THE USE OF ALTERNATIVE FUELS IN AVIATION?
The alternative fuels movement for aviation use had been driven by two major factors initially: the price of fuel and concerns over emissions. (The military is also concerned about supply issues.) With the price of oil dropping significantly, and expected to stay relatively low for the next year or more due to an oversupply situation caused by new drilling, some of the pressure is off in developing alternative fuel options for aircraft. The question remains, for how long? The research and development of various alternatives has been going on for years, and some of these are promising from a reduced emissions standpoint. Many airlines, operators and OEMs have successfully demonstrated the safe use of a blend of Jet-A and various alternative fuels, such as synthetic fuels, vegetable or nut oils, algae, bacteria or oil derived from weeds that grow in salty, marshy wastelands. We are also seeing new research developments that focus
on various aspects of the process to grow the raw material (plants or algae), process it and deliver it where it is needed. Researchers at the University of California-Riverside
have invented a novel pretreatment technology that could cut the cost of biofuels production by about 30 percent or more by dramatically reducing the amount of enzymes needed to breakdown the raw materials that form biofuels. While this is still in the research phase, this is a breakthrough that can be applied soon enough to existing biofuel production efforts if it proves economically feasible, and make biofuels much closer to petroleum in price. The challenge with developing alternative fuels is two-
fold. One challenge is to develop a viable fuel to meets the operational and safety guidelines of aircraft. The second is to develop an economically-viable means to producing such a fuel source. The need to meet the first part of this challenge should not be underestimated, since aviation fueling needs must meet specific conditions, including not freezing at altitude, not becoming too viscous to flow correctly, and not shortening the operating range of an aircraft owing to low bulk energy density. Such fuels must also be compatible with legacy aircraft, many of which are decades old. The second part of the challenge is a thorny one, due to the controversy experienced by the ethanol industry when it tried using feedstock from corn and other consumable crops, thereby negating some of the positive overall effect on the environment. Earlier efforts driven by the military centered around developing a means to produce synthetic fuel (from coal or biomass usually) to alleviate potential supply issues for warfighters, and less so on keeping the air clean.
PROJECTS ABOUND AROUND THE WORLD One of the pleasant surprises from researching information for this article was the discovery of just how many announced projects are moving forward at this time. These are happening all around world. Some touch on the developing supply chains of fuel stock and others address commercial use of biofuels by
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airlines and operators. Here is an abbreviated list of notable announcements:
USA
Southwest Airlines recently signed a contract with Red Rock Biofuels to procure three million gallons per year of low carbon renewable jet fuel, developed from forest residues that will help reduce the risk of destructive wildfires in the Western U.S. This biofuel will be used at Southwest’s Bay Area operations with first delivery expected in 2016. Airbus has teamed with Emerging Fuels Technology (EFT) for U.S. sustainable aviation fuels production. EFT has developed an advanced system that can convert synthetic gas from virtually any carbonaceous feedstock into transportation fuels such as renewable diesel and sustainable jet fuel (so it claims).
Blue Sun Energy, ARA and Chevron Lummus Global
achieved a key development milestone with their 100 barrel/day demonstration-scale facility in St. Joseph, MO. This will provide commercial scale production of 100 percent drop-in diesel and jet fuel from industrial and waste oils at competitive prices. Vertimass received a grant of up to $2 million from the
U.S. Department of Energy to commercialize “green” catalyst technology that converts ethanol into gasoline, diesel and jet fuel blend stocks, while retaining compatibility with the current transportation fuel infrastructure. Recently the Department of Defense awarded $210 million to Emerald Biofuels, Fulcrum BioEnergy and Red Rock Bio towards the construction of biorefineries that produce cost-competitive, drop-in military biofuels. The companies will build biorefineries producing 100 million gallons of military-spec jet fuel and marine diesel which will be cost competitive with petroleum-based fuels, with availability expected as soon as 2016.
Europe Three airlines (SAS, Lufthansa Group and KLM) recently signed an agreement with Statoil Aviation for a regular supply of biofuel at Oslo Airport. Statoil Aviation is planning on supplying 2.5 million liters of bio-fuel to the refueling facility at Oslo Airport. With a 50 percent bio- fuel mix, this will fuel around 3,000 flights between Oslo and Bergen and make OSL the first major airport to offer a regular supply of bio-fuel. Also, Norwegian Air and SAS Airlines both flew their first flights on biofuels with a 48-percent blend with 52-percent fossil aviation fuel. Their stated intent is to promote demand so fuel will be produced from Norwegian forests.
Middle East In the United Arab Emirates (UAE) there is a project to use seawater systems in desert or salinized land for the production of food, energy and other bioproducts. This will use nutrient-rich wastewater from raising fish and shrimp to fertilize oil-rich salt tolerant plants that can be harvested for renewable oil production.
DOMmagazine
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