Coal to be used as the base for the next jet fuel
Fueling the many jet planes found in most countries across the world is a great concern, with the depleting sources of available fuel. In addition to this, global warming that is increased with carbon emitted fuels has formed the basis for many researchers and scientists to produce various alternate energy sources.
And with this research, researchers have found out that coal can be used as the renewable source of energy for fueling new generation jet planes.
A group of researchers have produced a thermally stable coal based jet fuel that absorbs significant amounts of heat, while remaining stable at 900 degrees Fahrenheit.
The additional benefit of this newly discovered fuel is that it does not decompose at high temperatures. Fuels that tend to decompose at high temperatures also bring about deposits of carbon that spoils foul valves, nozzles and other engine parts of jet planes.
With this high temperature stability in the fuel, the fuel has been designated jet propulsion 900, or JP900. This fuel is designed for use in new generation, high performance engines found in aircrafts like F35 joint strike fighter and the U.S. Air Forces’ VAATE program. However researchers claim that pretty soon, this fuel can be used in conventional jet engines found in current aircraft.
The air compressor of a jet engine is found in the front portion of a jet engine where these engines compress air at high pressure. This compression generates large amounts of heat ad as the outside air is not a good cooling medium; researchers have designed this fuel as a heat sink where you find high temperature stability to be a necessity.
Though the main function of coal has been power generation over the past decades, it does have molecular structures that have properties required to produce stable high temperature fuel. Two processes were devised in creating JP900 using coal based materials.
The first method is based on the theory that bituminous coal becoming a fluid when heated. This coal is mixed with decant oil at normal pressures. Once heated, the mixture liquidizes where the liquid portion is distilled off and collected as JP900.
The remainder is a solid, coke which is a valuable by product used in the manufacture of anodes for aluminum smelting and in making graphite. This process is similar to the process used in petroleum refining where only a mixture of the two products is required to carry out the process in normal refinery operations.
The second process involves the use of light cycle oil and coal-derived refined chemical oil which is a byproduct of the coke industry. These two components were mixed by the researchers, to which hydrogen was added. Once distilled, you find the distillate, jet fuel. Both these methods are efficient at producing this coal based jet fuel, and can be produced in existing refineries.
This fuel will first be tried out in a jet engine at Wright Patterson Air Force base. Presently, 55 gallon barrel lots of JP900 is being produced; however researchers hope to produce more quantities of the fuel once a specification is issued for JP900. This is because without any official specification by the Air Force, no one will actually use this fuel in their engines.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for the comment