UOP, a Honeywell company, has won a US military contract to use renewable energy technology to convert vegetable oils and algal oils to military jet fuels.
Des Plaines, Illinois-based process technology company UOP will pilot a process to produce a bio jet fuel equivalent to jet propellant 8 (JP-8), within 18-months, as research into aviation biofuels accelerates worldwide.
UOP won the contract, worth $6.7 million contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's BioFuels programme.
The goal of the BioFuels programme is to produce jet fuel from biofeedstock with 90% conversion efficiency, by energy content, reducing waste and production costs. "We need to get to 85-90% to make economic sense," says Jennifer Holmgren, director of UOP's renewable energy business unit.
Current processes to produce biodiesel are less efficient, and only economically viable because the fuel is subsidised, Holmgren says. "A lot of the cost is in the feedstock. We have to get down to $1-$2 a gallon [26-52¢ a litre] using algal oil for it to make economic sense."
Biodiesel is typically produced using a process called transesterification, which results in fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) that are unsuitable for use in aircraft because they freeze near 0e_SDgrC (32e_SDgrF) while jet fuel has to operate down to -40°C. Holmgren says UOP has a deoxygenation process that can produce a biofuel with the cold-flow characteristics required for jet fuel.
DARPA is awarding several contracts under the BioFuels programme, which requires participants to deliver a 100-200 litre sample of biojet fuel for testing. Holmgren says UOP will have a commercial process ready for licensing by the end of the 18 months.
Engine manufacturers, meanwhile are stepping up testing of alternative fuels. CFM International is a blend of 30% vegetable oil FAME and 70% Jet-A1 fuel in a CFM56-7B engine at Snecma in France with the target of a net reduction of 20% in carbon dioxide emissions.
NASA has selected California company Reaction Design to develop fuel models for simulating the combustion of alternative jet fuels, to guide the design of fuel production processes. And Canada's NRC Aerospace research institute is proposing to build an alternative fuels testing facility in Ottawa to help companies bring their products to market.
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Source: Flight International
