UOP Renewable Jet Fuel From Camelina Powers KLM Demo Flight
23 November 2009
UOP LLC used its renewable jet fuel process technology (earlier post) to convert oil from camelina, an inedible plant, to renewable jet fuel for a biofuel demonstration flight by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. (Earlier post.)
The flight, which took place today at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, is the first green jet fuel demonstration flight in Europe and the first test flight to carry a select group of observers. One engine of a Boeing 747 was powered by a fuel mixture consisting of a 50/50 mix of the green jet fuel and traditional petroleum-derived jet fuel.
A life cycle analysis (LCA) study released earlier this year found that greenhouse gas emissions for camelina-derived renewable jet fuel shows nearly an 84.4% savings compared to petroleum jet. (Earlier post.)
UOP’s green jet fuel process technology was originally developed in 2007 under a contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to produce renewable military jet fuel for the US military. The process is based on UOP’s Ecofining process, which utilizes conventional refinery hydroprocessing technology and which is commercially available for the production of renewable diesel produced from biofeedstocks. In this process, hydrogen is added to remove oxygen from natural oils produced from sustainable feedstocks including camelina, jatropha and algae.
The UOP process produces a green jet fuel that is blended seamlessly with petroleum-based fuel. When used up to a 50% blend with petroleum-derived jet fuel, the green jet fuel is a drop-in replacement that requires no changes to the aircraft technology and meets all of the critical specifications for flight, including a freeze point at -47 °C and a flash point at 38 °Celsius.
UOP’s process technology was also used to produce jet fuel used in previous test flights conducted in the US, Japan and New Zealand. Test results from earlier demonstration flights showed that green jet fuel produced using UOP’s process technology performs as well, if not better, than jet fuel made from petroleum.
UOP’s renewable jet fuel process technology will also be used to produce almost 600,000 gallons of renewable jet fuel for the US Navy and Air Force as part of a joint program for the US Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) for alternative fuels testing and certification.
Camelina, the biofeedstock which was converted to make the green jet fuel, is an inedible plant that grows in conditions where other food crops cannot, is considered a sustainable, second-generation resource because its cultivation and harvesting do not tax valuable food, land or water resources.
I wonder if the Dutch have considered using hemp oil?
Posted by: dursun | 23 November 2009 at 06:02 PM