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| What is in this bottle? "Energy to Power a Jet" |
With test flights behind them, airlines push for more production of biobased jet fuel
By
Issue Date: June 11, 2012
Jet fuel is made from a blend of midlength hydrocarbons. “It is very
clean and very special kerosene,” says Ron Cascone, a principal at the
consulting firm Nexant. “The demands on jet fuel are very high. It has to be the right fuel all the time, no mistakes.”
At process technology firm UOP, a division of Honeywell,
Jim Rekoske has had the opportunity to make jet fuel from at least 40
different biobased feedstocks. In his role as general manager of UOP’s
renewable energy and chemicals business, he has put the feedstocks
through the HEFA process and Fischer-Tropsch chemistry to make
ASTM-certified fuels. The company licenses its technology to oil
refiners as well as to stand-alone biofuel facilities.
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| Jet Fuel Prices headed back to 2008 highs |
Unlike other fuels, Rekoske says, biobased jet fuel must go
through an extra refining step, at a cost of $4.00 to $5.00 per bbl, to
add hydrogen and remove oxygen. In addition to the HEFA and
Fischer-Tropsch processes, Rekoske says, UOP is developing technologies
to make jet fuel from biobased alcohol or pyrolysis oil. UOP plans to
send samples of alcohol-derived jet fuel to the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) in June as part of a program to achieve ASTM
certification.
UOP has worked closely with Solazyme to make jet fuel from algae
using the HEFA process. The algae are custom designed to maximize
production of vegetable-like oil tailored to jet fuel requirements, says
Robert M. Ames, Solazyme’s vice president of fuels commercialization.
They are grown in fermentation vessels and can be fed a range of sugars
including cane, corn, and cellulosic sugars.
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