Biofuels Digest Special Report on Aviation Biofuels: Military Aviation

Military interest in advanced biofuels stems from strategic goals – having a mobile, independent source of fuels for military applications. However, the military is also supporting the overall government goals of reducing fuel usage and associated greenhouse gas emissions. The US military is the world’s largest consumer of fuel at a rate of more than 340,000 barrels per day and $13.6 billion per year.  The United States Air Force has set a goal of producing 50 percent of its fuels by alternative means by 2016.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has said that it is seeking processes that use limited sources of external energy, that are adaptable to a range or blend of feedstock crop oils, and that produce process by-products that have ancillary manufacturing or industrial value. Current biodiesel fuels are 25 percent lower in energy density than JP-8 and exhibit unacceptable cold- flow features at the lower extreme of the required JP-8 operating temperature range (minus 50 degrees F).

DARPA has contracted with groups led by SAIC and General Atomics in algae-to-energy R&D. DARPA has warned that it may not be able to use commercial aviation biofuels because of the performance characteristics, such as performance in cold conditions.

The military’s most interesting flight test to date took place last year, when a US Air Force B-1 bomber mission, code named Dark 33, became the first jet to reach supersonic speeds using synthetic jet fuel. The test flight was carried out at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

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