Question by Handsolo: Do you think it will be possible to fly aircraft on pure biofuel?
I’m not asking because i’m incredibly green, but i’ve been reading about how the military has been running tests with 50/50 of JP-8 and Biofuel. Could aircraft fly purely on plant power one day? What goes into making biofuel like that?
Also, i’m not concerned with environmental impacts of using plants for fuel. I’m just asking if it’s potentially possible to make a jet fuel using just plant material.
Best answer:
Answer by Taylor
Probably if u did enough research
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
7 Responses
Maybe, but biofuel isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The only good thing about it is that it doesn’t come from crude oil. other than that, it is more expensive to produce, takes more energy to produce, and is worse for the environment than burning regular petroleum fuel. when people used recycled vegetable oil in their cars tho, it is better over all because they use oil that is already being made for restaurants and stuff and re-using it, not making oil just so it can be used in their cars
The little bit that I know about biofuel is that there is issues with it gelling way earlier in the cold. So until that can get figured out it won’t be used as a 100%. Nobody uses it as a winter fuel for trucks were I am yet. It’s just a summer option.
Fossil fuel is necessarily a temporary solution. There is not an infinite supply, at some point, something else will have to be used in it’s place.
In the future aircraft will have to be powered by synthetic fuels (if they use jets) and many of the precursors for those fuels will most likely have biological origins. And YES, it can be done. The one and only reason it is not done today is money.
It might be possible to make an electric jet, I don’t know
Yes, certainly possible but not presently economical. Aircraft running on bio fuel has already been tested and is planned for a passenger schedule:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1717009,00.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2010219465_sundaybuzz08.html
regular schedule on bio fuel starting in April, 2011: http://www.terracurve.com/2010/12/06/biofuel-flights-to-get-a-real-world-six-month-test-run-in-2011/
But all these are mixes of bio fuel plus traditional fuel. Here is a countering argument that points out a few issues: http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/technology/1003/gallery.green_myths.fortune/12.html Mostly it comes down to excess weight due to the lower energy density (by weight) of bio fuel, however I think the problem is overblown in this article.
Many sources seem to feel that the cost of petrochemicals is about to skyrocket. They are looking for alternatives. It may be an economic decision to fly fewer passengers to allow for more fuel if traditional petrochemical fuel becomes too costly.
I don’t no thing it possible.
already done
It has been done, in passenger jets and prop aircraft, so of course it’s possible.