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We have submitted several reports on the conversion of coal, algae, other plants and, even, animal fat into jet fuel. Test flights have been made - not including WV's US Senator Randolph's well-documented flight from WVU, in Morgantown, to Washington, DC, in the 1940's.
US military jets have subsequently flown on coal liquid/petroleum blends, as we've reported; and, Air New Zealand as well as Continental have flown on jet fuel made from algae.
More directly, planes flying into Johannesburg, South Africa, have for years been refueled with jet fuel synthesized from coal by Sasol.
The extended excerpt:
- - - "Chickens can't fly very far. But chickens — or the fatty parts left after processing —could be powering jet flights across the country and around the world in the next few years.
Or maybe it'll be algae, essentially pond scum, fueling them. Or jatropha, a smelly and poisonous subtropical plant with nicknames such as "black vomit nut" or "bellyache bush." Or liquid fuel converted from coal or natural gas, using a technology pioneered by Adolph Hitler's Nazi war machine.
Which fuel is best for an airline may depend on location, he says. In Asia, camelina is abundant. In Australia, Mexico and parts of South America, where conditions for growing jatropha are ideal, it likely will be the primary source of alternative fuels, Remy says. In North America, synthetic fuel may make more sense because coal and natural gas are abundant. (We think so, of course.)
Longer term, algae may be what fuels the engines in U.S. airline jets. It can be produced in high volume, and the USA has plenty of space to grow it.
"Jatropha and other grains will be on the market sooner, but only in the tens or hundreds of millions of gallons," says UOP's Holmgren. "Algae will be produced in the billions of gallons a little bit further down the road."
Algae is among the fastest-growing organisms on Earth. It takes up little space relative to its production capacity. Some strains can go from incubator to harvest in 14 days. And it grows best in brackish water, either in ponds, in a high-tech greenhouse environment known as a bioreactor, or on "algae farms," where nutrient-filled water flows through miles of tubes winding around a few acres of land.
Tim Zenk, vice president at Sapphire Energy, the San Diego start-up that produced the algae fuel used in the Continental flight, says his company's investors are motivated in part by environmental concerns.
"We think we'll get 3,000 gallons (of biocrude) a year per acre," Zenk says. "You're going to see very large scales of production." - - -
Note the "high-tech greenhouse environment known as a bioreactor", mentioned above. That would be one way, as we've suggested, to recycle CO2 coproduced by coal power generation and coal-to-liquid conversion operations, at the points of generation. And, on other, "algal farms" a significant portion of that "3,000 gallons a year per acre" would be recycled CO2, and would earn carbon credits. Moreover, since coal conversion generates other products, such as urea, which can be, and in China os being, used as fertilizer, a coal-to-liquid plant should be able to make the bugs grow in abundance.
And, finally, we have earlier documented Tyson Food's work on developing diesel fuel from chicken renderings. An in-flight meal for the plane itself? We would rather it chewed on chunks of coal, but, compared to coal, the amount of chicken fat available for processing would be small. Combining the two in a synthetic fuel manufacturing facility would be another synergy, where what is essentially a coal conversion processor could help clean up what might otherwise be only an unpleasant waste in need of disposal. The coal makes the environmental clean up opportunity possible.
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It looks like almost every institution of higher learning that ever had a lump of coal in the cellar furnace is getting into the act of converting coal to jet fuel.
We've noted previously Penn State's program in the Department of Defense's effort to develop synthetic jet fuel from coal, and herein is an update.
Some excerpts:
- - - "UNIVERSITY PARK (April 20) -- A jet fuel comparable to Jet A or military JP 8, but derived from at least 50 percent bituminous coal, has successfully powered a helicopter jet engine, according to a Penn State fuel scientist.
"Because the fuel is 50 percent derived from coal, it could reduce our use of imported petroleum for this purpose by half," says Harold H. Schobert, professor of fuel science and director of Penn State's Energy Institute. "We have shown in tests that the mix can go to at least 75 percent coal."
Not only does JP900 meet most of the specification for JP8, but it also has the high flash point required of JP5, naval jet fuel and the thermal stability of JP7, a high performance fuel.
(As we have earlier reported, from other sources, coal-derived jet fuel, generally designated as JP900, EXCEEDS current ASTM and Military standards for jet fuel performance.)
While originally, this project began to develop jet fuel for the next generation of high performance aircraft that would require very thermally stable fuels. Now that fuel prices have soared and we need to lower fuel costs, develop secure fuel sources and decrease dependence on foreign oil, there is a major shift in thinking about fuel and its sources.
"The fact that our fuel is almost dead on to JP 8 is something that the Air Force likes," says Schobert. "This fuel was intended to be a high heat sink fuel, which it is, but it can also be used in existing engines."
The project now targets coal-based replacement for existing fuels with the hope that this will interest both commercial and military users. So far the Penn State project has produced 500 gallons of fuel in a pilot plant operated by Intertek of Warren, Pa. The Penn State researcher would now like to produce about 4,500 gallons, or about 100 barrels, of the fuel for future testing by the Air Force and others." - - -
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We've previously noted The University of Dayton(OH)'s participation in the Air Force's coal-to-jet fuel development program.
Herein a news release on the developments there.
Some excerpts:
"Phases one and two will facilitate the production of jet fuel using a process that starts with steam-reforming of methane, Ballal (Dilip Ballal, head of UDRI’s Energy and Environmental Engineering division and director of the University’s von Ohain Fuels and Combustion Center for education and research - whew! That's a title and a half ! - JtM) said. “Successful research in this area could have an added benefit if fuel producers would harness methane from landfills that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere.”"
(We have previously documented the researched potential for recovering biologically-generated methane, and other hydrocarbons, from coal mine wastes, and landfills, and documented the further potential for converting those hydrocarbons into liquid fuels. - JtM)
"With a $10-million seed grant from the Air Force Research Laboratory, the University of Dayton Research Institute will collaborate with AFRL to construct and operate the country’s first federal research facility designed to create jet fuel from coal and biomass in a program aimed at creating a viable, home-grown alternative to increasingly expensive foreign petroleum-based fuel. The award will also fund research into coal- and biomass-derived fuel technologies for greater fuel efficiency and reduced environmental impact."
"Reduced environmental impact" is, as we've been saying, a genuinely achievable benefit of coal-to-liquid fuel conversion processes.
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The Supreme Court of the United States, in the delivery of it's opinion by Justice Kennedy, reproduced herein, confirmed the reality, and the value, of coal conversion technology. If we read this correctly, the Court ruled against both Amoco (now BP) and the US Government, who attempted to transfer the rights of those coal conversion values as part of a transfer of rights to natural gas. The Court clearly acknowledges that both gas ("producer gas") and valuable liquids ("liquid 'coal extracts'") can be synthesized, or otherwise generated, from coal.
The excerpt:
"SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
AMOCO PRODUCTION COMPANY, on behalf of it-
No. 98—830
AMOCO PRODUCTION COMPANY, on behalf of it-
self and the class it represents, PETITIONER v. SOUTHERN UTE INDIAN TRIBE et al.
ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
[June 7, 1999]
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
(The fact that CBM gas was known to escape naturally from coal distinguishes it from the “producer gas” that was generated from coal in the 1800’s. Brief for Federal Respondents 30. Producer gas was produced by “destructive distillation, that is, by heating the coal to a temperature where it decomposed chemically.” App. at 531 (reproducing Perry, The Gasification of Coal, Scientific American 230, (Mar. 1974)). The natural escape of CBM gas from the coal also distinguishes CBM gas from other “volatile matter,” expelled when coal is heated, or liquid “coal extracts,” which “can be extracted though the use of appropriate solvents.” Brief for Federal Respondents 26—27. The United States’ expressed concern that if the coal reservation does not encompass CBM gas it does not encompass these “components” of coal, see ibid., is unfounded.)"
We submit this just in case you had any remaining doubts. The Court should rule that, for reasons of national security and the common good, we have to start converting our coal to liquid fuel.
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Liquefaction of lignocellulosic and plastic wastes with coal using carbon monoxide and aqueous alkali
Perhaps not a lot of new information herein, just more confirmation, if it was even needed, that coal and plastic wastes and sawdust (and old Intel's) can be converted together into liquid fuel.
The excerpt (please note the authors' affiliation.):
"Palaniraja Sivakumar, Heon Jung, John W. Tierney and Irving Wender
Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Received 20 October 1995;
accepted 14 March 1996.
Available online 5 February 1999.
Abstract
An investigation has been made of the coprocessing of paper and other lignocellulosic wastes, and also of waste plastics, with coal via the COsteam route—treatment with CO, water and alkali at elevated pressures. The liquefaction of lignocellulosic and polymeric wastes was studied separately and then with the addition of coal. High conversion of lignocellulosic wastes could be achieved at 400°C. Polypropylene and polystyrene are completely converted to liquids and gases at 400°C; however, the conversion of high density polyethylene requires a temperature of 445°C. Coprocessing of Wyodak coal and lignocellulosics at 400°C did not change the yields or product quality compared with the liquefaction of Wyodak coal or lignocellulosics alone. However, the coprocessing of Wyodak coal and polypropylene at 400°C resulted in a decrease in coal conversion accompanied by an increase in the asphaltene fraction from coal. It is possible that the combination of free radicals from the polymer with coal fragments is responsible for this result. However, coliquefaction of Wyodak coal with less than 30% high density polyethylene at 445°C resulted in good coal conversion (85–90%) and did not increase the asphaltene yield from coal."
This, from the University of Pittsburgh. Another respected local institution, like WVU, showing us that coal can be converted into liquid fuels; and, renewable biomass (cellulose) and wastes can be combined with the coal to not only provide more raw material for liquid fuels, but to make the conversion process more efficient and profitable; and, through the inclusion of cellulose, to close the Carbon cycle.
Using this scenario, coal can lead us into a liquid fuel future that could ultimately rely in large part on renewable biomass for it's raw material, and clean up all our waste plastics as part of the bargain.
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