Page 14 - AAA NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2018 Online Magazine

material and thus becomes an alternate revision of ASTM D7566 Annex A5 clears the way for increased
energy source. While CSIR-Indian Institute adoption of sustainable aviation fuels because ethanol feed-
of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP) is using jatropha stocks can be made from so many different low-cost sources.
seed oil for its biofuel, other tree-borne oils Pacific Northwest National Laboratory technology developed
- Nahor Oil from the North-east, Sapium Oil a unique thermo-catalytic process for converting ethanol into
from the Himalayan region; waste cooking ATJ-SPK. The first step of the process is to convert the ethanol
oil, mustard family non-edible rotation crops into ethylene (“dehydration”). During the second step (“oligo-
are also promising feed stocks, analysts say. merization”), ethylene molecules are chemically combined to
build the range of hydrocarbon molecules needed for aviation
According to the International Air Transport fuel. These hydrocarbons are then hydrogenated, followed by
Association (IATA), 130,000 flights have fractionation to produce alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic ker-
already flown using biofuel mixtures. osene with the desired properties. The process can use ethanol
Projections by the industry organization and from any source, including ethanol produced via LanzaTech’s
NASA have said that the use of 50 per cent proprietary gas-to-ethanol process.
biofuel mixtures across the industry can cut
emissions by 50 per cent to 70 per cent. That Process technology made by UOP LLC, a Honeywell company,
would reach the IATA’s long-term goals of was used to convert second-generation, renewable feedstocks
cutting airline emissions in half by 2050. A to green jet fuel which powered biofuel demonstration flights by
number of companies are developing biofu- Japan Airlines (JAL), Air New Zealand and Continental Airlines.
els using everything from algae to flowering UOP’s green jet fuel process technology is based on the hydro
plants to oils created by garbage and food processing technology commonly used in today’s refineries to
waste. Biofuel refineries are struggling to produce transportation fuels. In this process, hydrogen is added
meet demand, but delivery of alternative fuel to remove oxygen from the biological feedstock such as oil from
is what currently makes it a more-expensive jatropha plants or algae. The result is a bio-derived jet fuel that
option. acts as a drop-in replacement for petroleum-based jet fuel and
meets all of the critical specifications for flight.
ASTM International, a not-for-profit organ-
isation, recently revised ASTM D7566 “These demonstration flights have had a
Annex A5 - the Standard Specification for tremendous impact on how the aviation community
Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized thinks about biofuels,”
Hydrocarbons - to add ethanol as an approved Jennifer Holmgren, general manager of UOP’s Renewable
feedstock for producing alcohol-to-jet syn- Energy and Chemicals business unit.
thetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK). The “We were able to demonstrate that our technology

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