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Dutch airline KLM says operated first flight with synthetic kerosene

4 points by philipkglass 6y ago

LinuxBender 6y ago
The KLM aircraft used regular fuel mixed with 500 litres (132 gallons) of synthetic kerosene I think some important details are missing from this. 500 liters is barely a drop in the tank on large aircraft, so that synth-kerosene is heavily diluted unless this was a single engine 2 person commercial turbo-prop. What make and model of aircraft was this? A 747 can carry 230,000 liters. 737 is 40,000 liters. Gulfstream 16,000 liters varies by model. The reason I ask is that it is known you can even use biodiesel or regular diesel or even red kerosene in a jet engine, but you will lose about 30% power transfer doing so without major modifications to the engine design. They should add a chart that shows aircraft range per 1000 liters of synthetic kerosene vs Jet-A, Jet-B in addition to cost.
- Someone 6y ago
  The photo on https://news.klm.com/world-first-in-the-netherlands-by-klm-shell-and-dutch-ministry-for-infrastructure-and-water-management-first-passenger-flight-performed-with-sustainable-synthetic-kerosene/ https://news.klm.com/world-first-in-the-netherlands-by-klm-s... seems to imply it was a B737.
  - LinuxBender 6y ago
    Thank you for that. It appears one of my spam blocking addons or lack of javascript prevented showing the picture. In that case, adding in 500 liters is not really a valid test in my armchair-quarterbacking opinion.
- maxerickson 6y ago
  It's seems likely that it fully meets the standard for Jet-A. (Which doesn't make it less of a stunt)
  - LinuxBender 6y ago
    If that is the case, then I think a good test would be to fill the tanks entirely with the synthetic version on a cargo plane, make a few dozen national flights, then a few dozen international flights, log the usage per distance so that we get a table with the total cost. This test should also invoke full engine maintenance before and after so that we also get an idea of how much more or less stress and wear this puts on the engines.
emteycz 6y ago
They should stop caring about bullshit and start refunding cancelled flights.

4 points by philipkglass 6y ago

The KLM aircraft used regular fuel mixed with 500 litres (132 gallons) of synthetic kerosene I think some important details are missing from this. 500 liters is barely a drop in the tank on large aircraft, so that synth-kerosene is heavily diluted unless this was a single engine 2 person commercial turbo-prop. What make and model of aircraft was this? A 747 can carry 230,000 liters. 737 is 40,000 liters. Gulfstream 16,000 liters varies by model. The reason I ask is that it is known you can even use biodiesel or regular diesel or even red kerosene in a jet engine, but you will lose about 30% power transfer doing so without major modifications to the engine design. They should add a chart that shows aircraft range per 1000 liters of synthetic kerosene vs Jet-A, Jet-B in addition to cost.

Someone 6y ago
The photo on https://news.klm.com/world-first-in-the-netherlands-by-klm-shell-and-dutch-ministry-for-infrastructure-and-water-management-first-passenger-flight-performed-with-sustainable-synthetic-kerosene/ https://news.klm.com/world-first-in-the-netherlands-by-klm-s... seems to imply it was a B737.
- LinuxBender 6y ago
  Thank you for that. It appears one of my spam blocking addons or lack of javascript prevented showing the picture. In that case, adding in 500 liters is not really a valid test in my armchair-quarterbacking opinion.
maxerickson 6y ago
It's seems likely that it fully meets the standard for Jet-A. (Which doesn't make it less of a stunt)
- LinuxBender 6y ago
  If that is the case, then I think a good test would be to fill the tanks entirely with the synthetic version on a cargo plane, make a few dozen national flights, then a few dozen international flights, log the usage per distance so that we get a table with the total cost. This test should also invoke full engine maintenance before and after so that we also get an idea of how much more or less stress and wear this puts on the engines.

emteycz 6y ago

They should stop caring about bullshit and start refunding cancelled flights.