Boeing researchers have found that ‘green diesel’, a renewable fuel used in ground transportation, could be a significant new source of sustainable jet fuels.
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Analysis by their researchers showed that green diesel, which is made from oils and fats, are chemically similar to today’s aviation biofuel, and could be blended directly with traditional jet fuel, said Boeing in a statement on Tuesday.
Green diesel, also known as a ‘renewable diesel’ is processed differently and is a different product than fuels called ‘biodiesels’.
Industry expert Solazyme distinguishes renewable diesel as “hydrocracked and refined, and is nearly molecularly indistinguishable from standard diesel that comes out of the pump”. Biodiesel, on the other hand, is defined as methyl and ethyl esters of fatty acids. Biodiesel is also referred to as FAME (fatty acid methyl ester) in the United States, or, in Europe, as RME (rape seed methyl ester), according to US National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The company is seeking approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration to fly an aircraft on green diesel, but did not mention if it intends to run it entirely using the alternative fuel. Green diesel emits at least 50 per cent less carbon dioxide than fossil fuel over its lifecycle, it said.
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With significant green diesel production capacity already existing in the US, Europe and Singapore, the cost of the fuel is seen as competitive with petroleum jet fuel.
“Green diesel approval would be a major breakthrough in the availability of competitively priced, sustainable aviation fuel,” said Dr. James Kinder, a Technical Fellow in Boeing Commercial Airplanes Propulsion Systems Division.
With significant green diesel production capacity already existing in the US, Europe and Singapore, the cost of the fuel is seen as competitive with petroleum jet fuel. The alternative fuel has the capacity to supply as much as one per cent - about 600 million gallons - of global commercial jet fuel demand, Boeing said.
Boeing has been working since 2011 with the aviation community to include a blend of up to 50 per cent aviation biofuel in international jet fuel specifications.
The aircraft company has previously test-flown its 747-8 Freighter powered by a blend of 15 per cent camelina-based biofuel mixed with 85 per cent traditional kerosene fuel in a historic transatlantic flight to Paris. Camelina is an energy crop grown in rotation with dry wheat.
“Boeing wants to establish new pathways for sustainable jet fuel, and this green diesel initiative is a groundbreaking step in that long journey,” said Julie Felgar, managing director of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Environmental Strategy and Integration.
