Inside the Air Force is reporting this morning that the service has officially certified 100 percent of its aircraft to operate on a 50-50 blend of petroleum fuel and an alternative fuel known as Fischer-Tropsch Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene, according to a service official:
The Fischer-Tropsch fuel is a synthetic fuel that can be derived from coal or natural gas, and on April 16, the Air Force's alternative fuels certification office received notice that its Fischer-Tropsch process is complete, Jeff Braun, the certification office's director, told Inside the Air Force in an April 25 interview. The last aircraft to be certified, the MQ-9 Reaper unmanned platform, finished testing in the fall, but Braun said his office had to wait for various reports to be completed before the Reaper could be formally approved to use the 50-50 fuel.
That blend is the first alternative to Jet Propellant 8 (JP8) that the Air Force has tested across its various aircraft types, and for that reason, Braun's office certified each aircraft in the service's inventory to ensure it could operate on the Fischer-Tropsch fuel just as it does on JP8. For future alternatives to JP8, the Air Force is pursuing a "certification by similarity" approach that, for instance, would evaluate the C-17 as a representative of all cargo aircraft rather than testing the fuel on each aircraft in that fleet type.
Despite completing the Fischer-Tropsch certification, the Air Force cannot move forward on purchasing large quantities of the fuel yet because of an outstanding environmental requirement, Braun said. The service is required to demonstrate that alternative fuels are "no less environmentally friendly" than petroleum-based fuels before buying them in operational quantities. Proving that quality is difficult because of the challenge of measuring greenhouse gas emissions, but also because the coal-based Fischer-Tropsch fuel may in fact not meet the standard, according to Braun.
"Right now the fuel that's available is the coal-based fuel and the natural-gas-based fuel," Braun said. "I know the coal-based fuel has some issues with it as far as its ability to meet the environmental requirements. I think the natural gas is a lot cleaner, but we have to work through those issues first. Once we can show that these fuels are in fact no worse than petroleum, then it's just a matter of the Air Force going out and instructing [Defense Logistics Agency] to make the purchases."
On the positive side, Braun said the price and quantity available of the synthetic blend are not major issues, Braun said. The Fischer-Tropsch fuel currently costs about the same as JP8, and the service believes it could purchase hundreds of millions of gallons annually. The Air Force uses about 2.5 billion gallons of fuel per year and the alternative fuel could not be procured in quite that quantity, according to Braun, but it would be available to offset at least a portion of the JP8 used each year. . . .
That certification has been a long time coming, as our coverage of the issue can attest:
Air Force Officials Still Reviewing Report On MQ-9 Alternative Fuel Test ITAF, Jan. 27)
Air Force Completes Tests For Two Alternative Fuels Using MQ-9 Reaper (ITAF, Dec. 2, 2011)
Air Force Fleet 99 Percent Certified On SPK Blend, But Fuel Issues Remain (ITAF, July 22, 2011)
Air Force Evaluating At Least Four Alternative Fuels For Potential Use (ITAF, June 3, 2011)
Air Force Needs To Complete One Test To Certify Alternative Fuel Blend (ITAF, May 20, 2011)