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Pratt & Whitney to lead Indian-Canadian research effort on jatropha for jet engines

July 14, 2008

In Canada, Pratt & Whitney Canada announced that it was investigating advanced biofuels such as algae and jatropha as fuel sources for its jet engines. The company has embarked on a four-year project to identify advanced biofuels candidates, calculate advantages compared to conventional fuels and first generation biofuels, and address engineering changes to accommodate a biofuel migration.

The project was established under through a joint Indian-Canadian research collaboration agreement and the International Science and Technology Partnerships Program is providing funding. Pratt & Whitney will manage the project and will be joined by Infotech Enterprises, McGill University, Laval University, Ryerson University, the National Research Council Canada and the Indian Institute of Technology, Science and Petroleum.

Aviation biofuel background

Airbus and Boeing have announced radically different timelines for the widespread adoption of biofuels in commercial aviation. The vice-president and general counsel of Airbus projected an eight to ten year timeline for full certification of biofuels.  Boeing managing director of environmental strategy Billy Glover said that he expected to see fuel certification by 2013. Glover added that he expected algae to be the primary feedstock for aviation biofuels within 10 to 15 years.

Japan Air Lines said that it will conduct a Boeing 747-based biofuels test before next March. JAL becomes the fourth airline, after Virgin, Air New Zealand and Continental, to schedule a biofuels test in association with Boeing and General Electric. Virgin completed its test earlier this year, while Continental and Air New Zealand will conduct their tests later this year.

Lufthansa. Lufthansa said that it would convert up to 10 percent of its fuel usage to biofuels by 2020, as a part of its overall effort to reduce emissions by 25 percent in that time frame. compared to 2006 levels. The company, which announced a set of measures to improve environmental efficiency, also said that it would reduce NOX emissions by 80 percent from 2000 levels.

Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines indicated that the airline expects to convert to biofuels as soon as they reach commercial viability in Southeast Asia. The airline’s CEO Datuk Seri Idris Jala made the comments while launching a “MAS Goes Green” initiative, which channels voluntary funds from customers into a Forest Research Institute-managed trust fund for sanctioned forest conservation projects.

Air France-KLM. Air France-KLM announced an agreement with Algae-Link to procure algae oil to be blended with conventional jet fuel. Deliveries of algae oil will commence by the end of 2008, according to Algae-Link executives, but quantities were not disclosed.

JetBlue. Airbus and Honeywell recently announced a partnership that they said would replace up to 30 percent of jet fuel with biofuels. The partnership, which also includes Jet Blue and the International Aero Engines consortium, said that they would produce biofuels from algae and other non-food vegetable oils. The International Aero Engines consortium included Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce. Fuels will be developed by Honeywell UOP, which last year won a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration (DARPA) to develop biofuels for the US military

Continental. Continental Airlines will become the first US airliner to conduct a biofuels test flight. The company announced that, in partnership with GE and Boeing, it would schedule a test biofuels flight in 2008. The companies said that the test would include a different set of feedstocks than those tested in the historic Virgin Atlantic flight, which included babassu and coconut oil.

The companies would test up to 50 percent biodiesel, compared to the B20 blend used in the Virgin flight.

Virgin. The World Development Movement called the recent Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight a “publicity stunt with dangerous consequences for the planet” and said that Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson “should back a campaign to include aviation in the climate change bill.”

Sir Richard Branson, in remarks surrounding the Virgin 747 biodiesel test flight, said that algae would almost certainly be the feedstock for commercial aviation biofuels, implying that the selection of coconut and babassu oil had been made in light of an algae oil shortage. Branson announced a new business unit of Virgin Atlantic Airways that would produce algae-based biofuels for the airline’s use. Branson told reporters that algae is the best fuel feedstock because it does not affect food supply. He said that his company is “talking to a lot of sewage plants about setting up algae plants above and using a lot of the CO2 coming off those sewage plants” and said that using CO2 to produce algae for low-emission fuels was a “a double-whammy effect.”

Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand said that its upcoming biofuels test in August will use jatropha biodiesel in one of the test 747’s four engines. The company said that if the test is successful that it intends to convert its planes to use a B10 mix of jatropha and conventional fuel, noting that jatropha biodiesel costs up to 30 percent less than conventional jet fuel;. The proposed test flight from Auckland will take two hours, using jatropha from India and Africa. Fuel certification will take up to three years, according to the airline, from the time of the first test flight.

The news will surprise observers who expected Air New Zealand to opt for algae-based biodiesel produced by Aquaflow, a New Zealand-based company that has been working closely with the airline all year.

Air New Zealand Deputy CEO Norm Thompson said recently: “Our goal within the organisation is certainly to get into a position where we could run if not all, certainly part of our domestic fleet on biofuels. Believe you me, this is happening quicker than we had planned. It is really advancing quite quickly and the way Jet A-1 (airline fuel) is priced at the moment, at $US172, it gives a hell of a lot of people a hell of a lot of encouragement to get on and make it happen bloody quickly.”

International Air Transport Association. IATA has set a goal of making planes 25 percent more fuel efficient by 2022, and “zero emission” planes within 50 years, but with airlines expected to increase fleet size by 140 percent in the next 20 years, such an effort would not keep pace with the rate of airline fleet growth. Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of IATA said, “Air transport takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Alongside safety and security it is a pillar on which we have built a great global industry. Despite our good track record, air transport’s carbon footprint is growing. That is not acceptable. Our vision is for air transport to achieve carbon neutral growth in the medium-term, on the way to a carbon emission free future.

Biocrude jet fuel. Sustainable Power announced that its 10 percent biojet fuel blend had been successfully tested in conjunction with AmSpec Services and an undisclosed major domestic US airline.  Tests concluded that the blend had met and exceeded current jet fuel specifications, providing the company with a viable entry into the 18 billion gallon commercial aviation fuel market.  A link to view the laboratory test results has been posted here. Sustainable Power’s bioreactors utilize the Rivera process to produce bio-crude from algae, palm fruit, coconuts, and other industrial or food waste. Sustainable Power is the exclusive licensee of the Rivera process, originally developed by US Sustainable Energy (USSE.PK).

  • Reliance Life Sciences says Indian R&D shows jatropha, pongamia intercropping can solve food vs fuel debate
    • In India, Reliance Life Sciences says that intercropping will solve the food vs fuel debate, touting its efforts to research the intercropping of jatropha and pogamia with corn, mango, and medicinal b...
  • Nandan Biomatrix to plant 1.7 million acres of jatropha in India; adds up to 763 Mgy to Indian capacity
    • In India, Nandan Biomatrix said that it will plant 1.7 million acres in Hyderabad with jatropha, adding a potential 763 Mgy of jatropha oil to Indian capacity. The projection is based on a projecte...
  • India establishes Combustion Research Institute to build better engines for biofuels
    • The Indian central government has established a Combustion Research Institute that will attract top scientists from around the globe to improve Indian fuel research. To date, Indian research in bio...
  • Swaziland jatropha plantation gets underway
    • In Swaziland, activist Bob Geldof was on hand to promote jatropha-based biodiesel. D1 Oils recently raised $170 million on the Alternative Investment Market, and recently signed a joint venture with B...
  • Air New Zealand to use jatropha biodiesel in two-hour flight, will use ten percent jatropha across fleet if fuel is certified
    • Air New Zealand said that its upcoming biofuels test in August will use jatropha biodiesel in one of the test 747's four engines. The company said that if the test is successful that it intends to con...
  • Lufthansa to use up to 10 percent biofuels by 2020
    • In Germany, Lufthansa said that it would convert up to 10 percent of its fuel usage to biofuels by 2020, as a part of its overall effort to reduce emissions by 25 percent in that time frame. compared ...

    Written by Jim Lane · Filed Under Research 

    Comments

    One Response to “Pratt & Whitney to lead Indian-Canadian research effort on jatropha for jet engines”

    1. Gary Bridge on July 17th, 2008 1:31 am

      The synopsis of what various airlines are trying out with Alternative Fuels at the tips of the iceberg here was very interesting. My thanks and appreciation goes out to Jim Lane for researching this bit of information to publically share.

      What I’d like to make herein is a very basic and public suggestion to the folks at BioFuels Digest.

      First, what should a biofuel be?
      I’d like to suggest that it basically be biodegradable.
      OK?
      Would this make sense?
      A BioFuel should be biodegradable and not persist when accidently spilled into the environment.
      Otherwise, I think you should term most of the new fuels being discussed above as “Alternative Fuels.”
      This is my primary suggestion herein…

      Now, let’s roll through a few of the items listed above concerning what airlines are tentatively trying out.

      Is BioDiesel biodegradable?
      I don’t think so.

      Most people who are gaga about BioDiesel have never once witnessed the transestrication process utilized to isolate these float-on-water plant or animal oils. This process first uses lye & (biodegradable) methanol and then uses copious quantities of fresh water to separate oils from glycerine leftovers for which there is presently no market. These water-separated bio-oils are now marketed as BioDiesel, (whether they be plant or animal in origin) - these bio-oils still float on this planet’s water bodies just like the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill did and still does - 19 years later.

      The primary benefit of BioDiesel is that it is sulfur-free. Unfortunately, it will never make more than a very small dent in the global market for petroleum-based diesel. However, my point herein is that BioDiesel does not biodegrade. BioOils like BioDiesel will barely break down and thus biodegrade in the natural environment any faster than petroleum-derived oils do.

      Si what gives about this current frenetic gaga concerning algae?
      What is the algae supposed to produce?
      Why fast-growing green algae is a feedstock for BioDiesel, correct?

      The magic ingredient in algae is the plant lipids or fatty oils. This is the target from this fast-growing plant and these plant lipids/oils don’t readily biodegrade. They still float right on top of this planet’s water bodies and their unburned emissions still phase-separates once exhausted into this blue planet’s water-laden atmosphere.

      Yet people are so excited about fast-growing algae claiming that it “eats CO2″ and Virgin’s Mr. Branson is quoted above as this “is a double whammy effect.”

      What he and others don’t remember from 7th grade biology class is that every tree or living green plant on planet earth consumes CO2 as a primary food source, just like green algae does. The plant eats the carbon atom from CO2 and kick’s back an O2 oxygen molecule for mammalia and other living creatures to rebreathe.

      The problem is - our overpopulated earth is on a major overload with unburned hydrocarbon oils being emitted out the auto/truck/airplane tailpipes plus industrial smokestacks like refineries, coal-fired power plants and cement kilns — and all this uncombusted hydrocarbon (oils) we see and breathe as urban smog while the lungs of the earth (RainForests) are being felled to make way for jatropa or palm oil plants.

      Growing anything for an annual harvest just for it’s intrinsic carbon content to then inefficiently reconvert this carbon into float-on-water bio-oils isn’t sustainable. Only the carbon atoms in cornstarch are what were re-configured into ethanol by acidic enzymes and fermentive yeasts. There are other ways to isolate basic carbon building blocks for new and biodegradable fuels here. Such is the role of gasification of solid carbons or steam reformation of carbonaceous gasses. Some of these other mechanisms are only now at the forefront and several are hiding their true colors and true technology under the guise of “ligno-cellulosic” ethanol.

      I’ve recently been reading about the “Rivera Process” to produce BioCrude from both algae and other carbon substrates, many of them urban wastes. This sounds incredible - BUT once again - what is BioCrude? Is it another float-on-water oil which doesn’t readily biodegrade in the natural environment? Come on fellas - fess’ up here!

      Perhaps BioFuels Digest should create two major headings within it’s own system of classification.

      One would be BIOFUELS (which truly biodegrade)
      and the other could be ALTERNATIVE FUELS.
      Would that work?

      The basic tenent to understand herein is Oxygen on this blue planet - and I’m calling attention to something just as great as Hydrogen Hallucinations.

      The BioDiesel and BioCrude OILs do not contain oxygen. And when an oil, even a petroleum-derived oil - integrates an oxygen atom typically derived from boiling H2O water into steam - then the resulting new fuel molecule produced is an alcohol. That’s right, one Oxygen atom per molecule of hydrocarbons will convert it into an oxycarbon.

      CH4 methane gas when mated with an oxygen atom derived from steam becomes C1 methanol - the simplest liquid alcohol. Two methanes called ethane when mated with an oxygen atom then forms a synthetic C2 ethanol. Three carbon propane plus oxygen produces C3 n-propanol. Add one oxygen atom to flick-your-bic butane gas - and it falls out as a synthetic C4 n-butanol alcohol (not to be confused with iso-butanol).

      Oxycarbon is a new word for most people, it isn’t even in most dictionaries. However Oxycarbon is simply a chemist’s term for “fuel grade alcohol.”

      The oxygen atom in alcohols doesn’t combust. It does NOT add up one iota in the total carbon BTU content of the true Biodegradable new fuel. But this oxygen is what “fans the flames” getting all of the carbons in the alcohol chains to combust and burn incredibly clean - and these blended alcohols are what “fans the flames” of the hydrocarbon petroleum-based fuels - working to get these far more complex oily hydrocarbons to fully (or more fully) combust. That is the goal. Combust all the oily fuel instead of having 10% or 15% of the expensive petroleum-based fuels or uncombusted coals exiting the tailpipe to become urban smog which I feel is the basic root of global warming and climate change phenomena.

      Oxygen then is the key to having an otherwise float-on-water oily fuel become a water soluble, or oil soluble, biodegradable alcohol…

      Biodegradable Methanol at 50,000 BTU’s per gallon readily dilutes in water (it’s open flames can be easily quenched with a spray mist of water) and dilute methanol is both a bug and plant food. Simple methanol is used to rebuild destroyed bacteria populations in municipal sewage treatment facilities when somebody pollutes these waste treatment plants with glycols and antifreeze poured down the drain. Mammals can’t process C1 methanol, even dilute - but mother nature’s bugs, plytoplankton, bacteria, microbes and plants sure can. Dilute C1 meoh is a truly a free lunch for this planet’s microbes and all living green plants & trees!

      Two-carbon ethanol at 75,500 BTU’s per gallon is also biodegradable. Stop and think here - can you dilute your beverage alcohols such as beer, wine, whiskey, gin or tequila with both water and ice cubes? Sure you can! This is the basic secret to real BioFuels here folks. Please consider biodegradability first and foremost.

      This most basic of criteria would eliminate 80% of the new fuels being widely discussed and invested in by well-meaning people who have not thought through even the most basics of global chemistry first and foremost. If biodegradability were the first criteria, it would quickly pair down the list of new, alternative fuels…

      Other alcohols like 3-carbon propanol, 4-carbon butanol, 5-carbon pentanol and other higher alcohols are all capable of basic biodegradability characteristics. The butanol promoters are saying that C4 butanol or a stacked molecule of iso-butanol isn’t water soluble. Herein begins another lecture which I’ll pass on for the moment.

      Please consider BioDegradability as a basic tenent to be appropriately labeled BioFuel, OK? Thanks for the space herein to comment on a rather interesting article.

      Gary Bridge

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