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.