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Globemaster Using Synthetic Fuel

tomahawk6

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Globemaster goes green on synthetic fuel
Staff report
Posted : Saturday Oct 27, 2007 6:22:53 EDT

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – For the first time, the Air Force has flown a C-17 Globemaster jet powered entirely by a mix of synthetic and traditional fuels.

The service, which aims to certify synthetic petroleum use in all aircraft by 2011, has fully certified B-52 bombers on the fuel mix and has started easing the C-17 cargo jet into using the fuel.

After an Oct. 19 test flight with only one C-17 tank containing the new-wave fuel, pilots flew the C-17 on Oct. 22 with nothing but synthetic fuel mix on board.

There was “no discernable difference” between using the traditional JP-8 fuel and the synthetic fuel mix, said mission pilot Maj. Scott Sullivan in a statement.

The synthetic fuel, called Fischer-Tropsch, is blended with JP-8, a kerosene-based fuel that uses more natural resources. The synthetic fuel is touted by the Air Force, the Defense Department’s largest fuel consumer, as an alternative to relying on foreign-produced fuels.

This four-hour C-17 flight clears the way for more evaluations at McChord Air Force Base in Washington and other tests. Air Force leaders expect the C-17 to be fully certified to use the synthetic fuel blend by early 2008.
 
The main soild carbon source for this process is coal. The U.S. has the worlds largest known coal reserves at approx. 260 + billion short tonnes.  Canada is around number 10 globally for coal reserves, with about 70% of it in Alberta.
 
Heh.... if it workeed for the Germans during WW2, guess it'll still work
 
Worked for the South Africans too in the bad old apartheid days.
 
Not the best source for liquid hydrocarbons, neither is bitumen, but it does provide some alternative I suppose.
 
Related article
http://money.cnn.com/2007/10/30/magazines/fortune/Oil_from_stone.fortune/index.htm
 
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