Air Force to use synthetic-blend fuel

Liquid fuel made from coal is expected to be available by 2012.

DAYTON (AP) — In hopes of protecting the nation from terrorist acts or natural disasters that could reduce the supply of oil, the Air Force has approved using a blend of synthetic and petroleum-based fuel in some of its planes and is testing it in others.

It’s part of an initiative intended to eventually lead to the use of synthetic fuel derived from coal, natural gas or biomass. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton has played a lead role in the initiative and the testing.

“The pilots who have flown on this stuff have noticed no difference. Every indication is it will be successful,” said Kevin Billings, deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for environment, safety and occupational health.

The Pentagon began looking at coal in 2001 when Congress earmarked $13 million to investigate the Fischer-Tropsch process in which coal is gasified and then liquefied into fuel. The technology was developed by Germany in the 1920s and used by South Africa beginning in the 1950s.

The fuel being tested by the Air Force is a 50-50 blend of fuel refined from natural gas using the Fischer-Tropsch process and fuel refined from oil. Liquid fuel made from coal is expected to be available by 2012.

In August, the Air Force certified its fleet of B-52s to use the blend. It is expected to finish testing the blend in C-17s by May. Next week it will begin ground testing the blend on a B-1 bomber engine at Arnold Air Force Base in Tennessee.

The reason for using a blend instead of pure synthetic fuel is that the Fischer-Tropsch process removes contaminants, and the resulting fuel doesn’t have the lubricating qualities that fuel from refined oil has. Using all synthetic fuel could result in a lack of lubrication for engine seals and gaskets, increasing the possibility of fuel leaks.

After the 50-50 blend is certified for the entire Air Force fleet — expected by early 2011 — the Air Force will test leaner and leaner versions, adding more synthetic fuel to the blend to figure out where the tipping point is.

The Air Force has committed to use — by 2016 — a blend of domestically produced synthetic fuel and oil-refined fuel for half of the fuel it buys for its planes in the continental United States.

Last year, it used 1.6 billion gallons of fuel for that fleet, most of it for transport planes such as the C-17.

The Fischer-Tropsch process promises to produce a cleaner fuel that gives off more energy per pound and be less subject to freezing. It would reduce transportation costs and ease logistical headaches by enabling the military to use one fuel for all of its planes and vehicles instead of the more than half-dozen different fuels now used.

The Middle East has about 685 billion barrels of oil compared with 22 billion barrels in the United States. However, there is enough coal in the United States to produce 964 billion barrels of fuel, according to the Pentagon.

The United States produced 1.16 billion tons of coal in 2006, up from 1.13 billion in 2005. It was used mainly to generate electricity and in steelmaking.

As the military evaluates the synthetic fuel blend, the Energy Department has funded efforts to refine the coal. In January 2006, the department awarded a $100 million grant for the construction of a commercial coal-to-fuel plant near Frackville, Pa.

The $1 billion plant, which will use waste coal from nearby mines, is expected to be up and running about three years after private financing is negotiated, according to John Rich Jr., president of WMPI Pty., LLC, which will operate the plant once it is built.