A group of researchers at the University of Idaho have partnered with the Air Force to study a jet fuel additive. The researchers are participating in an AFWERX grant program and have been awarded $25,000 to continue their research.
The research team found a substance which lowers the freezing point of jet fuel. This and other properties of the additive improve the performance of jet fuel, undergraduate researcher Sara Murphy said.
Professor Dev Shrestha said the additive cleans the fuel tank, adds antistatic properties to the fuel and begins to freeze at minus 58 degrees Celsius. Jet A, the most commonly used jet fuel, freezes solid at minus 40 degrees Celsius, Murphy said.
“A lot of other things about fuel and fuel additive don’t matter (in this context),” Murphy said. “What we usually test is energy density and combustion efficiency, but those things don’t matter if (the fuel) freezes, especially if it’s (for flight) where there’s high elevations.”
The substance the team is studying as a jet fuel additive is entirely made of biological material. This makes the additive carbon neutral — it continues the carbon cycle instead of adding excess carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Other teams under Shrestha’s advisement are researching how farmers can best use biochar, a byproduct of turning biomass into fuel. Biochar is used as an additive to increase the fertility of soil, according to Biochar International’s website. The use of biochar lowers the carbon footprint from creating the additive because there are fewer waste products left over.
The team researching the additive is part of the Industrial Assessment Center. The IAC takes in eight engineering undergraduate students and one graduate student as interns to teach them about energy-related engineering.
Biological engineering master’s student Brian Hanson is leading the project. Murphy worked on preliminary research while Chad Dunkel and Shrestha supported and advised them.
Initially, the team was trying to create a jet fuel, not an additive, Murphy said.
Standards for jet fuel are high, however, and creating a substance which meets those standards is difficult. Creating an additive has similar standards, but less of it needs to be produced.
Murphy spent last summer in Moscow testing different types of oil and alcohol to find the best formula for the additive. She tested two properties — the cloud point and the pour point. She described pour point as the temperature at which the liquid will no longer flow. Shrestha and Murphy agreed research into renewable fuel is important. Murphy said people often worry about changing their lifestyles to reduce their carbon footprint.
While personal change is important, she said improving technology and biofuel research can allow people to continue their lives as they are. Biofuel can reduce the impact of cars, airplanes and other sources of transportation on the environment.
“Commercialization of the fuel itself (involves) a lot of testing,” Shrestha said. “There are a lot of specifications and all other avenues we have to meet so that we can market it, so it is going to be a few years down the road, but this is a breakthrough that eventually will lead to that commercialization.”
This story has been updated to reflect Murphy tested the cloud point and the pour point of different types of oil and alcohol for the additive. It was also updated to describe the pour point is the temperature the liquid will no longer flow.
Lex Miller can be reached at [email protected]
University of Idaho College of Engineering
Great reporting on some very cool research. Thanks for your work, Alexis! Photo credit should be Alexiss Turner.