New research into biofuel may not make canola prices rocket, but it might take the oilseed supersonic.
A North Dakota group of researchers and developers is testing a canola-based jet fuel with the U.S. military. So far the results are terrific, says entrepreneur Jeffrey Stamp.
“Canola is the advantageous feedstock,” said Stamp.
“It works better than any of the other oils that we’ve used.”
With money from Wall Street, canola jet fuel could become a cheaper, more environmentally friendly aviation fuel.
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“They’re ready to help us turn this dream into reality,” said Stamp during the Canola Council of Canada’s recent annual meeting in New York, a day after he spoke to Wall Street venture capitalists about funding his fuel project. Those investors like both the feel-good elements of a vegetable oil jet fuel and the big buck potential. The United States burns 98 billion litres of jet fuel per year.
If soybeans were used to produce jet fuel, it would take eight times the annual soybean production of the U.S. to meet one year’s needs, Stamp said. That means there is lots of room for a canola-based fuel to enter the market.
“That is what the financiers on Wall Street gravitated to, because they got the benefit,” said Stamp.
Using vegetable oil to make a quality jet fuel has not been a common notion up to now. Vegetable oils are used to produce biodiesel for cars and trucks, but aircraft engines have more exacting specifications.
For instance, to meet the U.S. Air Force’s requirements, jet fuel must remain liquid until at least -50 C.
Canola-based biodiesel has better viscosity at low temperatures than soybeans, but even it gets too thick at very low temperatures.
“It sucks in the cold,” said Stamp about vegetable oils.
But through special processing into jet fuel, the researchers have been able to maintain its liquid form down to about -61 C. Stamp said the cost should be less than present jet fuel.
As governments and society become focused on mitigating environmental pollution problems, a plant-based jet fuel should become popular, he said.
A single passenger jet flight from Denver to New York burns 14,000 pounds of jet fuel, creating 47,000 lb. of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.
The emissions from burning combine with other gases to generate a heavier weight of carbon dioxide than the original fuel weight.
But that amount of carbon dioxide is removed from the air by growing a few dozen acres of soybeans or canola. So a vegetable oil-based jet fuel would not continually add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere as fossil fuels do, but simply remove and re-release the carbon dioxide in a never-ending cycle.
The jet fuel is going to be tested in the next year at a U.S. Air Force base.
