Algae holds great promise as a source of biofuel: it’s rich in oil like corn, but it can be cultivated without competing for land with food crops, and researchers are developing energy-efficient ways to process it.
Recent tests have demonstrated that algae is a viable fuel for long-distance flights, and for use in naval helicopters. But questions still loom over the private sector’s ability to produce sufficient quantities for widespread, routine use.
Last month, Honeywell showed off its green jet fuel’s performance by transporting a plane-load of journalists on the first-ever biofueled Transatlantic flight on a Gulfstream jet powered by its 50-50 petrol-algae mix. And the U.S. Navy conducted its own successful demonstration with its first test of a military aircraft using a similar fuel blend.
The Department of Defense has also begun testing fighter jets with a biofuel blend from the plant camelina. In the latest test of camelina last May, the Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team went through its paces for the public at Andrews Air Force Base.
The Navy has also previously tested the camelina blend in a Seahawk helicopter. But last month’s algae test was significant because it marked the first known use of an algae biofuel blend in any military aircraft.
In the algae biofuel test, the Seahawk made a routine flight and was aloft for about 1-1/2 hours. The fuel efficiency and performance of the blend was “similar to that experienced from petroleum,” according to Rich Kamin of the Naval Air Warfare Center.
The Navy has focused on algae and camelina because when processed as aviation fuels, both share key chemical and physical properties with petroleum. So far the Seahawk tests have confirmed what the laboratory analysis has predicted: the two biofuels coud be used as drop-in replacements for petroleum without the need to modify existing aircraft.
The successful series of tests over the past couple of months mark a turning point of sorts for algae biofuel: the U.S. Navy, U.S. regulators for private industry, and fuel industry standard body groups are now moving to approve the regular use of algae biofuel for in military and civilian aircraft.
The major obstacle facing the successful deployment of the fuel in the aviation industry is the ability of the U.S. biofuel industry to produce sufficient quantities of the stuff.
The industry’s ability to ramp up production was called into question by a report last January by the Rand Corporation, which concluded that it was “highly uncertain” that production of biofuels could reach significant levels in the near future.
The U.S. Navy is more optimistic. It foresees mass market potential in five years, helped along by federal programs that partner with the private sector to promote biofuels research.
There are other developments that are cause for optimism. Last year, for example, the Defense Logistics Agency signed an agreement with the Air Transport Association of America to promote the commercialization of alternative fuels.
The Rand report was also focused on the use of biofuel in tactical weapon systems, which is a somewhat narrow view of its potential role in national security.
And the U.S. military still intends to push for the development of the fuel as a viable form of energy despite lingering questions about its cost and scalability.
Tom Hicks, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for energy, responded to the RAND report by noting that the military is looking at biofuels “in a broader context — from an energy independence and energy security point of view.”
Backing up Hicks’s point, the Department of Defense recently underscored the need to transition into alternative fuels by listing climate change among the “powerful trends that are reshaping the international landscape” in its latest Quadrennial Defense Review.
