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AIR FORCE & FISCHER-TROPSCH BLEND

Air Force aims to use Fischer-Tropsch (FT) blended

U.S. Air Force Goal is to use F-T Fuel Blend for 50% of U.S. Needs by 2016

The U.S. Air Force aims to use Fischer-Tropsch (FT) blended fuels to fill 50% of its jet fuel needs in the U.S. by 2016, William "Bill" Anderson, Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Air Force in charge of installations, environment and logistics told Gasification News during an exclusive interview at the Pentagon.

"Our goal, and it is a very aggressive goal, is to acquire 50% of our domestic fuel needs [from FT-blended fuels]. A lot of our aircraft are in Europe and Asia and downrange in Iraq and Afghanistan, but 50% of our domestic fuel demand, which is about 1.6 billion gallons of the 2.6 billion gallons that we purchase annually, 50% of that (would come) from a domestically produced synthetic fuel blend," he said.

Anderson wants to make sure that the U.S. supplies all of the FT fuel the Air Force buys, and says that from what he has heard, there should be plenty of commercial FT fuel providers in the U.S. by 2016 to be able to fulfill those needs.

"We need to have sources domestically so that we can do the job the American people pay us to do and that is to defend this nation, defend freedom. That is a lot easier to do when we have domestically produced and derived energy sources," the former General Electric senior counsel said.

"If their (synthetic fuels producers’) plans fall into place as they expect, there should be domestic sources available for us. Then again, if this thing really takes hold, let's say our tests are successful and the commercial airline industry and big over-the-road truckers think this is a great idea, demand could easily outstrip the supply."

The Air Force has been sharing its FT fuel testing data with other departments in the government, such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as well as with commercial airlines.

"The partnership between FAA, the Department of Energy (DOE) and Air Force has been terrific from what I can see so far. A lot of information is being shared back and forth. We are kind of segregating who's doing what, so we can move as fast as we possibly can," Anderson said.

He said the FAA suggested that commercial certification of FT fuels can run approximately at the same time as Air Force certification, but added that airlines may be able to certify their fleets faster because they have fewer engine types. Additionally, coal-to-liquids (CTL) 50-50 blends with petroleum jet fuel are already used in commercial jet engines for a number of years in South Africa.

"We've got the after-burner engines, fighter aircraft and heavy aircraft. They (commercial airlines) may be able to certify quicker, which would be terrific for everybody," he said.