Camelina Oil And Coal Blended To Create Abundant Biojet Fuel

An agreement between two alternative fuel companies may make it possible to blend camelina oil and domestic coal to create clean biojet fuel.  Accelergy Corporation and Great Plains Oil & Exploration - The Camelina Company, have signed an agreement to use a coal-biomass-to-liquid technology (CBTL) to jointly develop the fuel.

"This teaming gives Great Plains the ability to significantly impact the jet fuel market with domestically sourced biojet fuel...and do it today," said Sam Huttenbauer, CEO of Great Plains - The Camelina Company. "It will help fill the gap in low-cost biofuel availability from domestic sources as we expand the production of Camelina in North America."

The aviation industry is demonstrating its desire for biojet fuel with the certification of biofuels on regular commercial flights expected in 2012, the Air Force's target to use 50% domestic jet fuel by 2016, and the European Union's mandate that transportation fuels consist of 10 percent biofuel by 2020, the industry is demonstrating its increasing readiness for biojet.

"To date, there has been limited construction of facilities capable of producing these synthetic fuels in commercial quantities," said Dr. Rocco Fiato, VP of Business Development and Planning at Accelergy. "The slow adoption and construction of these facilities is the result of the need for technological improvements in synthetic fuel production processes."

CBTL begins with transforming raw material into feedstock through a gasification process. The feedstock is then turned to fuel using a liquefaction process that requires thermal and catalytic reactions. Accelergy's CBTL process provides 20% lower CO2 emissions than conventional refining methods, resulting in cleaner burning fuel and more efficient engines.

Through this agreement, Accelergy will use Great Plains Camelina oil blended with its liquefied coal to create a fully synthetic jet fuel otherwise indistinguishable from standard petroleum fuel.

"Using Camelina will not only prove-out the technology on a commercial scale, but also provide meaningful quantities of the end-product biojet fuel for Air Force use," said Dr. Fiato.

The technology has been proven at laboratory and small scale pilot projects. This agreement helps fulfill the next required step of commercial demonstration and greatly accelerates the scale-up.

FMI: www.camelinacompany.com, www.accelergy.com