A team of scientists at West Palm Beach, Florida-based Alliance BioEnergy Plus Inc.’s subsidiary Ek Laboratories, Longwood, Florida, developed a pathway to produce JP-8, an advanced military grade aviation biofuel, at the suggestion of government officials at the Department of Energy (DOE) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
The team continues to optimize the cellulose to sugar (CTS) process for dry distiller’s grain (DDG) and other various cellulose biomass. JP-8 is like the commercial aviation fuel, Jet A-1, except with the addition of corrosion inhibitors and anti-icing additives in order to meet the stringent US and British defense standards.
Aviation biofuels offer a variety of advantages over conventional petroleum based jet fuels. Cellulosic biofuels using the CTS process can produce a jet fuel that is nearly 90 percent cleaner than conventional jet fuels and completely renewable. The CTS process is capable of processing a wide variety of biomass including agricultural waste, residential and commercial yard waste as well as specialty crops into aviation biofuels at strategically placed locations near high traffic airports and military bases in order to reduce the transport and storage costs usually associated with aviation fuels being refined in faraway ports and trucked or railed all across the country.
CTS biofuels can be less expensive to create and transport, they do not depend on oil or commodities markets and can be produced in small batches at local airports from local feedstocks or in large factories outside of large metropolitan areas servicing the world’s busiest airlines.
The company is working closely with the NREL and has submitted an application under the DOE’s funding request to build a commercial scale plant producing aviation biofuel from yard waste, pine chips and corn stover.
Alliance BioEnergy is currently in discussions with several ethanol producers relating to its bolt-on CTS unit capable of processing DDG and other biomass while it continues meeting with potential territory and plant sub-licensees from around the world. The CTS process is proving to be extremely versatile and capable of producing several different products from a variety of biomass feedstocks, at the same time.
