Green Options

The US Air Force has placed an order for 100,000 gallons of Camelina-based jet fuel, in addition to the 40,000 gallons the Navy ordered last month for $2.7 million, with delivery to begin this year. Sustainable Oils is supplying them with a biofuel grown in Montana with 80% lower carbon emissions than jet fuels now.

The US Air Force has ordered an additional 100,000 gallons of Camelina for their second round of flight tests starting next June. The DOD is trying to find a non food-competitive biofuel that can be blended with jetfuel to reduce carbon emissions and is running tests on several kinds of alternative fuels.

The modern U.S. Navy may be about to put a 3,000-year-old weedlike biofuel crop in its tank.  Camelina, the “new darling” of next-generation biofuels, is among a small group of biofuels under consideration for testing  this year by the U.S. Navy.  One of the aircraft to be tested is the F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighter, the latest incarnation of the battle-proven Hornet.  Sustainable Oils of Montana has just won a contract to provide 40,000 gallons of camelina-based jet fuel to the Navy, so the chances look good for putting the ancient crop to a new use.

The Naval Air Systems Command fuels team will start with a lab analysis of the new fuels, then move on to charting their performance on a bench-mounted Super Hornet F414 engine before moving on to the big one, an in-flight test.  Some time in 2010, the Navy could be flying high on a more sustainable fuel.

Renewable fuels company Sustainable Oils shared the results of a life-cycle analysis of jet fuel created from proprietary Camelina seeds. According to the study, renewable jet-fuel made from Camelina reduces carbon emissions by 84% percent compared to the petroleum-based counterpart.

A team at Michigan Tech University based their research on Camelina grown in Montana and then processed into bio-jet fuel using “UOP hydroprocessing technology”. Next generation biofuels are true hydrocarbons and in the molecular aspect are indistinguishable from fossil fuels, which makes Camelina oil a good candidate to quickly reduce carbon emissions produced by aviation.

Japan Airlines became the first airline to demonstrate camelina as a successful biofuel this week, as the fuel surpassed traditional 100% Jet-A fuel in efficiency according to pilots. The biofuel blend used, which was 84% camelina, 16% jatropha and less than 1% algae, brings optimism that the airline could be flying full passenger flights using only biofuels within 3-5 years.

The remarkable crop, camelina, has been eyed for years as an affordable biofuel that can be grown easily in rotation with traditional food crops like wheat. Used as biodiesel, camelina could also potentially power cars and trucks cheaper than its petroleum counterpart. But for all of its use as a biofuel, it might be most exceptional as a cooking oil. Loaded with Omega-3 fatty acids, vegetable oils made from camelina are good for the heart and the brain, and could also be used as a cheap feed for fish and livestock.

There’s another player in the race to make aviation biofuel: camelina.

A Japan Airlines Boeing 747-300 took off from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Friday, with an engine powered by a biofuel made primarily from camelina, making JAL the first airline to test fly the fuel.  The fuel was a mix of camelina (84 percent), jatropha, (16 percent) and algae (less than 1 percent), marking the 1.5 hour flight as the first demonstration flight powered by biofuel made from three feedstocks.

Over the last few months, things have been a bit gloomy in the world of biofuels. Earlier this year, they enjoyed a position of prominence as a viable means of reducing carbon emissions and addressing the energy crisis. Since then, federal mandates requiring an increase in the amount of land set aside for growing biofuel crops may have already contributed to rising food costs and, peversely, may have also actively triggered an increase in global warming. As a result, the public and political perception of biofuels is at an all-time low.

Step forward camelina, an oilseed crop whose supporters claim is already well on its way to being a viable low cost, high yield alternative to soy and corn as a source of biodiesel, without any of the downsides.