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I know jet aircraft have been tested with bio-fuel of some sort, but I don't know how they handle the gelling problem. I'm kind of assuming that the fuel tanks
by curtis 9y ago
I know jet aircraft have been tested with bio-fuel of some sort, but I don't know how they handle the gelling problem. I'm kind of assuming that the fuel tanks would need to be heated to make it work. On the flip side, if you wanted to use ethanol then the low temperatures wouldn't be a problem, but the big trade-off there is ethanol has a much lower energy density per unit weight.
- xyzzyz 9y agoHeated tanks are already a thing on ships, which burn fuel that is pretty much solid at room temperature, and need to be heated to even pump to the ship.
- scythe 9y agoThere are two ways to convert a fatty acid to a volatile fuel: you can convert it to an ester or an alkane. Biodiesel is comprised of esters; biokerosene is made of alkanes. Converting fats to biodiesel is a much simpler process, which is why biodiesel is common and biokerosene has yet to take off -- currently, biokerosene is made by hydrogenation, and hydrogen usually comes from fossil fuels. This is described here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ulf_Neuling/publication/269290472_Conversion_routes_for_production_of_biokerosene-status_and_assessment/links/57ecd5b908ae92eb4d266cfc.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ulf_Neuling/publication... The most land-efficient way to produce fats from crops is by far the palm oil fruit ( http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html ), but because most cropland is already used for growing food, most palm oil plantations are on recently cleared forest, which gives palm oil an undeservedly bad reputation (farmers in Southeast Asia would simply grow something else on cleared forest if not for oil palms).