Air Force moving forward with synthetic fuel

[unhappycamper]

Air Force moving forward with synthetic fuel
By James Hannah - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 21, 2007 12:07:31 EST

DAYTON, Ohio — In hopes of protecting the nation from terrorist acts or natural disasters that could reduce the supply of oil, the Air Force has approved using a blend of synthetic and petroleum-based fuel in some of its planes and is testing it in others.

It’s part of an initiative intended to eventually lead to the use of synthetic fuel derived from coal, natural gas or biomass. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton has played a lead role in the initiative and the testing.

“The pilots who have flown on this stuff have noticed no difference. Every indication is, it will be successful,” said Kevin Billings, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for environment, safety and occupational health.

The Pentagon began looking at coal in 2001 when Congress earmarked $13 million to investigate the Fischer-Tropsch process in which coal is gasified and then liquefied into fuel. The technology was developed by Germany in the 1920s and used by South Africa beginning in the 1950s.

The fuel being tested by the Air Force is a 50-50 blend of fuel refined from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process and fuel refined from oil. Liquid fuel made from coal is expected to be available by 2012.

In August, the Air Force certified its fleet of B-52s to use the blend. It is expected to finish testing the blend in C-17s by May. Next week, it will begin ground-testing the blend on a B-1 bomber engine at Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_synthetic_fuel_071121/



uhc comment: The United States military uses 340,000 barrels of oil a day --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=6910

[MADem]

1. Fischer-Tropsch process

How interesting, this method was popular with the Axis powers during WW2...

Since the invention of the original process by the German researchers Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch, working at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in the 1920s, many refinements and adjustments have been made, and the term "Fischer-Tropsch" now applies to a wide variety of similar processes (Fischer-Tropsch synthesis or Fischer-Tropsch chemistry)

The process was invented in petroleum-poor but coal-rich Germany in the 1920s, to produce liquid fuels. It was used by Germany and Japan during World War II to produce ersatz fuels. Germany's annual synthetic fuel production reached more than 124,000 barrels per day from 25 plants ~ 6.5 million tons in 1944.<1>

After the war, captured German scientists recruited in Operation Paperclip continued to work on synthetic fuels in the United States in a United States Bureau of Mines program initiated by the Synthetic Liquid Fuels Act. ..... The Pentagon hopes to reduce its use of crude oil from foreign producers and obtain about half of its aviation fuel from alternative sources by 2016.<8> With the B-52 now approved to use the FT blend, the USAF will use the test protocols developed during the program to certify the C-17 Globemaster III and then the B-1B to use the fuel. The Air Force intends to test and certify every airframe in its inventory to use the fuel by 2011.<9>

C-17 Fischer-Tropsch fuel demonstration testing was completed on October 22, 2007 at Edwards AFB. Testing consisted of a ground test and two flights which demonstrated engine performance throughout the C-17 flight envelope and during some operationally representative maneuvers. Test data is still being reviewed by the 418th FLTS to validate the subjective results of the test.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fischer-Tropsch_process

[eppur_se_muova]

2. This is already used to make ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel in Sweden.

http://www.ecopar.se/