TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Materials/Processes

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PEO (T), PEO(A), PEO (JSF), PEO(W)

OBJECTIVE: Explore and develop processing methods to produce biofuels from nonedible bioŽoils for naval applications.

DESCRIPTION: Fuel costs from petroleum based feedstocks have risen at a phenomenal rate due to increased demand worldwide, uncertainties and insufficiency on supply side, and geopolitical instabilities. Jet and diesel fuel prices have more than doubled in the past four years; consequently, the Navy fuel cost has also doubled during this time. Biofuels such as biojet and biodiesel derived from domestic and renewable resources have the potential to alleviate excessive fuel cost burden for the Navy.

Conventional methods of such as transesterification of triglycerides or esterification of fatty acids produce biofuels that suffers from poor fuel characteristics like high cloud point and low oxidation stability which compromise the performance and shelf life of the biofuels. Because global energy conversion and delivery systems have considerable inertia, it is essential that alternative biofuels must be suitable for use in current propulsion systems and requires no design changes to the engines. Novel fuel processing methods must produce biofuels with properties and performance comparable to their petroleum fuel counterparts.

The alternative biofuels conversion methods must not use food crop feedstocks (palm, soybean, rapeseed, etc.) or nonrenewable petroleum based feedstocks (coal, oil, natural gas etc.) Desirable feedstocks for biofuels production should come from renewable resources such as nonedible bioŽoils and cellulosic plant matters.

The desired biofuel processing methods must not be feedstock specific and must be capable of converting a wide range of feedstocks into direct production of biojet and biodiesel to meet the Navy needs. Conventional conversion method using Fischer Tropsch chemistry can involve many unit operation steps which are expected to be very cost intensive. The desired biofuels conversion methods need to have consolidation of unit operation and should leverage existing fuel processing technologies and infrastructure to be cost effective.

PHASE I: Conduct feasibility analysis on process concepts to produce cost effective biojet and biodiesel from cellulosic biomass and nonedible bio-oils feedstocks.

PHASE II: Design and run pilot plant tests to experimentally demonstrate process concepts to produce one liter of biofuels for testing.

PHASE III: Address scale up issues for commercial scale demonstration unit. Build and test demonstration unit.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Successful development of the biofuels program for the Navy will also have significant impact for the commercial aviation industry and commercial trucking industry as the rising jet and diesel fuel prices has hindered their profitability and competitiveness. Successful development of cost effective biofuels have the potential to reduce inflation concern resulting from rising fuel prices.

REFERENCES:
1. DESC Fact Book FY 2006 and Standard Prices Publication FY 2006 & FY 2004 from www.desc.dla.mil

2. Vosloo, A.C. 2001. Fischer-Tropsch: a futuristic view. Fuel Process. Technol., 71:149 155.

3. Prankl, H. and Schidlbauer, h. 1998. 10th European Conference on Biomass for Energy and Industry, Wii.rzburg, Germany, "Oxidative Stability ofFatty Acid Methyl Esters".

4. Tyson, K.S., Bozell, J., Wallace. R., Petersen, E., and Moens, L. 2004. NREL Technical Report, NREL/TP-510-34796, "Biomass Oil Analysis: Research Needs and Recommendations".

KEYWORDS: Bio jet Fuel, Bio diesel fuel, non edible bio oils, cellulosic biomass, renewable energy, sustainable energy.