APR 21

As you may recall, last August the Navy put out a call to biofuel companies for 40,000 gallons of fuel to start testing in their F/A-18 Super Hornet jet.  Sustainable Oils ultimately won the contract to develop biofuel for the military branch and now the Navy is prepared to take the Hornet on a supersonic flight using a blend of 50 percent jet fuel and 50 percent camelina-based oil.

Tomorrow, at the Air Station at Patuxent River, Maryland, the so-called "Green Hornet" will fly over the Chesapeake Bay, hopefully proving that biofuels can perform well in a full range of flight operations, including traveling faster than the speed of sound.  The Super Hornet was picked as a test craft for biofuels because it's the Navy's largest aviation fuel-consumer.

Camelina biofuel has shown itself to be a great choice for jet fuel blends because it can work as a drop-in replacement for jet fuel.  All aircraft systems -- fuel gauge, etc. -- operate the same as if it were straight petroleum.  Also, a recent study found that the use of camelina jet fuel could reduce carbon emissions by 84 percent compared to regular jet fuel.

The Hornet won't be the only naval craft to get a makeover though.  The Navy has committed to getting half of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, which will include cleaning up ships, aircraft and all of their power systems.  The U.S. military is the world's greatest consumer of petroleum, so their commitment to reducing that consumption is an important one.

National Geographic News

Comments (9)

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written by Mary, April 22, 2010

This is plain wrong. Some people will have less to eat because of this.

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Re:Mary
written by EV, April 22, 2010

Wrong. The fuel being used is derived from Camelina oil. People do not eat Camelina. Read the article before commenting next time.

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@EV
written by Mary, April 23, 2010

Camelina oil is classified as a foodstuff. Learn to research before making comments.

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It's a weed
written by Doc Rings, April 23, 2010

Mary, unless you like eating weeds like camelina in your salad, then this would be considered a truly non-food source for humans. Maybe cows and bison eat this weed, but that's probably about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelina_microcarpa

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written by sarah, April 23, 2010

Apparently, if you believe in wikipedia, you are kind of both right.

This is a fairly interesting seed/plant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelina_sativa

Looks like it can grow in marginal areas with minimal soil opening and resources, is helpful in crop rotation so not a bad plant to pick to plant and pick. and it can be grown in places not used for anything, can be developed in developing areas and marginal areas for food or fuel and unless you are trying to harvest flax, it's a pretty safe thing to have in your fields.

It is stable having been traditionally grown as a cooking oil...has in recent years become an interest to both bio-fuel developers and omega 3/oil/food for health enthusiasts.

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The Crux
written by Maxcor, April 27, 2010

You're all missing the point, arable land that could be used to plant food MAY need to be replanted with this to produce oil.

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written by um, April 28, 2010

But isn't the point that if it's a weed, then it can be grown on land that can't be used to plant food?

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written by oldvet, April 28, 2010

I don't know why this was picked over a company like Rentek which makes a synthetic jet fuel as well.They have already signed a contract with LAX to supply it's ground vehicles with their fuel in partnership with a company I believe is named Clearfuels.They use waste such as wood chips and other cellulose materials as well as recovered methane from dumps.The list of waste materials is long and they have already flown a B 52 off a 50/50 blend with great success and are producing such fuel right now and are getting the permits to build a large scale plant in Natchez as well as a smaller plant in Rialto which will be up and running next year.Hawaii is also building a plant.They use waste and they don't need land to grow it.Look at what happened to the price of wheat when farmers stopped useing much of their land to grow corn for ethanol because they could get a higher price for corn.

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better or worse?
written by Tula, April 30, 2010

Would you rather they keep using fossil fuels? I think using something renewable is much better than finite fossil fuels that we have to import at high cost from people who hate out guts.

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