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Environment

Navy Formulates New Biobased Fuels

by Stephen K. Ritter
March 9, 2015 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 93, Issue 10

To meet growing demand for renewable diesel and jet fuels to power heavy trucks, ships, and aircraft, Navy researchers have created clean-burning high-performance biofuels by blending sesquiterpanes and a paraffinic hydrocarbon (Energy Fuels 2015, DOI: 10.1021/ef5027746). Benjamin G. Harvey, Walter W. Merriman, and Thomas A. Koontz of the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, in China Lake, Calif., tested blends of several cyclic and long-chain hydrocarbons before settling on a mix of caryophyllane isomers and 5-methylundecane. Caryophyllanes are hydrogenated versions of tricyclic sesquiterpenes found in hemp, clove, and other plant oils and derived from the plants or prepared from sugar via fermentation. 5-Methyl­undecane is a C12 hydrocarbon constituent of kerosene that can be prepared from bioethanol by a combination of fermentation and chemical synthesis. The researchers found that a blend of 65% sesquiterpanes and 35% 5-methylundecane exceeds diesel performance and safety standards. They further found that altering the blend to 40% sesquiterpanes and 60% 5-methylundecane maintains fuel performance while reducing the low-temperature viscosity so that the fuel is usable in jet engines.

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