Efforts to produce high-performance, unblended biofuels that can be used as drop-in replacements for petroleum-based jet fuel have taken a major step forward. The National Research Council (NRC) of Canada reported that the 100-percent non-food biofuel used in its historic October 29 test flight displayed reduced emissions compared to conventional jet fuel.
Results of additional tests showed that the unblended biofuel used on that flight in the Falcon 20 twin-engine commercial jet is just as efficient as the regular petroleum version. Remember, that's with an unmodified engine.
That flight was the first in which a civil jet flew on 100-percent biofuel that meets the performance specifications of petroleum jet fuel. Before then, biofuel used in flights consisted of blends with at least 50-percent petroleum-based fuel, all because of performance requirements.
The Falcon 20 is an NRC test aircraft. For the biofuel test flight, the Falcon flew at 30,000 feet, a typical altitude for commercial aircraft. Following close behind was a T-33, which collected information on the engine emissions produced by the oilseed-based biofuel.
Analysis of the data showed that aerosol emissions of the biofuel during flight were reduced by 50 percent compared to conventional fuel. In tests performed on a static, non-flying engine, there was a significant reduction in particles, as much as 25 percent, and a reduction of up to 49 percent in black carbon emissions. During steady-state operations, tests showed comparable engine performance between the two fuel types, and an improved fuel consumption of 1.5 percent using the biofuel. (You can access a report on test data here.)
Developed by American company Applied Research Associates (ARA) and Canada-based Agrisoma Biosciences for the commercial airline industry, the 100-percent biofuel is being developed by ARA under the name ReadiJet. The fuel was made from an industrial crop based on oilseed (Brassica carinata), a relative of mustard and canola plants. The crop is designed to grow in semi-arid regions such as the southern prairies in western Canada, where most food crops won't grow, and is now being produced on a commercial scale.
ARA and Chevron Lummus Global (CLG) came up with the Biofuels ISOCONVERSION process to produce the fuel from plants and algae. This process is based on ARA's proprietary catalytic hydrothermolysis process and CLG's hydroprocessing technology.
The resulting fuels, including ReadiJet and ReadiDiesel, can be used as drop-in replacements in existing turbine and diesel engines designed to operate on petroleum fuels. ARA says it will be less expensive than competing technologies to build and operate facilities for making fuels from the Biofuels ISOCONVERSION process, at a capital expenditure of $1 per annual production volume and operating expenses similar to the costs of petroleum refining. The process also doesn't require the use of hydrocracking or hydroisomerization, typically present in conventional fuel processing technologies.
The NRC says it will continue working to bring the fuel to market. Meanwhile, ARA is cooperating with American company Blue Sun Energy to build and operate a demonstration facility, and then move to commercial volume production of both fuels. The demonstration system's target is 100 barrels per day.
ARA and Blue Sun expect to reach prices competitive with petroleum-based fuels in 2015. That's only two years from now -- and it's also the same year the US Navy has targeted for achieving 50 percent of energy consumption from alternative sources for non-tactical uses.
I agree, that's a good use of the saying, although applying it to system design was a later application of it. Why not name names? MS has been well-known for bloat for at least 20 years. Or did you mean another company?
Ann, that question, "just because I can do it, should I?" also relates to that terrible disease of "feature creep", wherein features keep adding to a product or package in a manner similar to an agressive cancer, and just about as healthy for the product. For excellent examples of that, just look at the last few OS releases from the industrie's giant. Not naming names, but it should be obvious who I mean.
William, I seem to remember running across that expression in the early 70s, perhaps in connection with the small is beautiful/appropriate technology movement of the time. To me, it's often meant something at a more global level than specific product features: more like, why redesign something if it doesn't need it, or why turn a perfectly good mechanical system that was easy to fix into an electronic one that isn't (cars anyone?). In other words, if it ain't broke don't fix it. And you're welcome for the clarification.
Ann, thanks for recalling that expresssion, "just because I can does not mean that I should." It is certainly very applicable to a whole lot of things done tody, and a whole lot of product features that nobody except the marketing weasels want a product to have.
That would be a great topic for a discussion, "products and features that are really dumb and useless". And thanks for the clarification about somebody whom I knew from 1965.
Thanks, I often say that myself in a different form: Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. Nope, I'm not that Ann. And I'm a bit older than I look in that picture.
I am not interested in burning coal as a vehicle fuel either, Ann, but id does show that reforming coal into a usable engine fuel can be done fairly simply. Of course one can produce gasoline from coal as well, but it takes lots of energy. This proves that just because we can do something does not make it a good idea. Not my statement, I heard it from somebody else, but it bears repeating, I think.
If your picture is current, I am a bit older than you by a few years, Ann. And if you were Alice Ann Armstrong then we do need to talk.
William, I remember Mother Earth News very well. It's still around and now online. Sounds like we are of an age, and of a similar era. I did not actually live out on the land off the grid full time, but had several friends who did and I hung with them often. Re the info, I'd bet it's still available in a different form online. There's a growing interest in several related technologies centering on what's now called permaculture, although those folks would not likely be interested in burning coal.
Yes, our experiments were quite informal. As for other alternatives, way back when, in a publication called "Mother Earth News", there was a construction article about how to power a pickup truck using a coal burning gas generator system. It was big and ugly but quite well thought out, and it could be put thgether by anyone with some mechanical talent and a lot of determination. I have no idea as to if it is possible to find that article again.
Interesting. If there was a significant improvement in fuel economy, it might be worth the cost, but emissions might be a problem. My aunt accidentally topped off her Datsun 280Z with diesel. It didn't like it.
Their statements concerning emissions are a bit confusing. Black carbon is both a particle and aerosol emission. The difference is in how they are measured. From what I understand, aerosol emissions are measured with engine in flight at a given altitude, while particle and gaseous emissions are measured with the engine stationary at ground level. They state a reduction in black carbon emissions up to 49%, particle emissions up to 25% and aerosol emissions up to 50%. These would appear to be overlapping numbers. The most significant reduction in emissions is black carbon (about 43% at cruise and 49% at idle). I would have to guess that black carbon makes up the lion's share of the aerosol and particle emissions reductions.
I'm still wondering how much spin is on this. The gaseous emissions, cumbustion temperatures and power output are all virtually identical between ReadiJet and Jet-A1. There is a slight reduction in fuel consumption, but is it enough to account for the reduction in emissions? Where everything else is equal, less matter (fuel) in should equal less unburned particles (black carbon) out.
Inspired by the hooks a parasitic worm uses to penetrate its host's intestines, the Karp Lab has invented a flexible adhesive patch covered with microneedles that adheres well to wet, soft tissues, but doesn't cause damage when removed.
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego are designing a robotic arm that takes inspiration from the loose, flexible, yet very strong structure of the armored plates on a seahorse's tail.
Researchers at the Missouri University of Science & Technology have designed a new nanoscale material that can transmit light faster than the 186,000 miles per second it usually takes to travel through air.
It has often been said that as California goes, so goes the nation. This spring, the state's wind power is setting energy generation records and solar energy generation is expected to rise sharply during the second half of 2013.
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