The Air Force’s Biomass-Derived Fuel Project is Getting Results, and Attention
Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by keith in Environmental Impact
Everyone is familiar with the U.S. auto industry’s effort to create hybrids that benefit the environment by running on less gasoline. But the U.S. Air Force is also taking steps toward making its aircraft more environmentally friendly. On March 25, 2010, the Air Force flew an A-10 Thunderbolt II using a biomass-derived jet fuel blend. The Air Force has previously flown aircraft using biomass-derived fuel, but this was the first time that a military or civilian aircraft flew on biomass-derived fuel alone instead of interspersing it with traditional fuel across different engine tanks. The flight took place at Elgin Air Force Base in Florida and was attended by Officials from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Biofuel is a greener choice than traditional jet fuel because it doesn’t burn with sulfur and other environmentally unfriendly compounds that are found in traditional jet fuel. But here’s the catch; according to Dilip Ballal, division head of the University of Dayton Research Institute’s (UDRI) energy and environmental engineering program, some of those compounds are essential to maintaining the jet fuel’s lubricating capabilities both while an aircraft is in flight and while it is in storage. But UDRI’s researchers were able to arrive at a mechanically sustaining fuel by blending biofuel with traditional JP-8 jet fuel.
The Airforce’s jet fuel project with the A-10 Thunderbolt II is representative of its larger goal to reduce its emissions of air pollution and cut its dependence on foreign oil; and according to industry insiders, the U.S. commercial airline industry is paying close attention to the results of the Air Force’s tests; a situation that should give clean air advocates a more hopeful view of an industry that currently significantly contributes to air pollution.
