Camelina oil and domestic coal will soon be blended to create clean biojet fuel using coal-biomass-
“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 Oil and Exploration. “It will help fill the gap until we expand the production of Camelina in North America and utilize the many new technologies on the horizon.”
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,”
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. CBTL removes 20% of the CO2 emissions associated with standard refining methods, resulting in cleaner burning fuel and more efficient engines.
Through this agreement, Accelergy will use Great Plains Camelina oil blended with its liquid 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.
