EERC and US Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed a contract worth $4.7m that will fund the development of the renewable JP-8 jet fuel. The USAF currently uses JP-8 in aircraft, and has been researching alternative sources to petroleum-based fuels following a recent mandate to procure 50% of its fuel sources domestically and from greener sources.
Gerald Groenewold, director of EERC, said: “For decades, the EERC has been dedicated to creating cost-effective environmental solutions for our country’s energy challenges, and we have long recognized that smart public-private sector partnerships are key to commercializing promising technologies. We believe Accelergy’s integrated production process is paramount to the rapid adoption of domestically produced specialty fuels, and we fully expect to help drive this endeavor forward with our technology.”
With the capabilities to produce a cleaner non-petroleum based fuel that exceeds JP-8 specs, Accelergy utilizes proprietary micro-catalytic conversion technologies licensed from Exxon Mobil Research and Engineering. Accelergy’s integrated CBTL process domestically produces a tunable range of low net-carbon fuels including premium gasoline, diesel, Jet-A, and military JP-5, JP-8, and JP-9 jet fuels. The CBTL process maintains a high overall thermal efficiency while reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with comparable refining methods.
Tim Vail, CEO of Accelergy, said: “Partnering with a demonstrated leader in clean energy research and technology uniquely positions Accelergy to domestically produce high volumes of cleaner fuels to meet ever-increasing needs for our nation’s military aircraft. As global demand for transportation fuel grows, EERC’s scalable, feedstock-flexible process provides a crucial element to our hybrid process, enabling cost-effective, next-generation liquid fuels.”
