The Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement on Thursday of a new round of funding to support development of aviation fuels from alternative sources will complement ongoing work by the Air Force Research Laboratory, University of Dayton and others, a UD researcher said.
The government’s continuing support of alternative fuels development will help commercial airlines as well as military consumers in efforts to diversify sources of fuel and create price competition for suppliers of conventional aviation fuels, said Dilip Ballal, who oversees alternative fuels research and testing for the University of Dayton Research Institute.
The FAA said it is awarding $7.7 million in contracts to eight companies, including one in Ohio, to help the FAA develop and approve jet fuels from sources including alcohols, sugars, biomass and organic oils. The goal is to develop fuels that can be used in conventional jet engines, and the research is to examine how the biofuels will affect engine durability, the FAA said.
The Air Force, the biggest user of fuels and lubricants in the Defense Department, has been a leader in biofuels research as the service seeks to reduce reliance on foreign sources of oil and find more environmentally friendly fuels. UDRI operates a fuels testing facility on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base under contract to the Air Force, and may help test some of the alternative fuels being developed by companies elsewhere, Ballal said.
Commercial airlines are watching the Air Force’s development of alternative fuels. High fuel prices have prompted the nation’s largest airlines to fly fewer flights in efforts to reduce operating costs.
“The problem is the fluctuating price of jet fuels,” Ballal said. “The airlines are looking at all kinds of fuels as a way to put competitive pressures on the cost of conventional jet fuels.”
The FAA’s contract awards announced Thursday include at least two companies with which UDRI researchers have worked: United Oil Products, a Honeywell Corp. subsidiary in Des Plaines, Ill., which will receive $1.1 million in funding, and Velocys Inc., of Plain City, near Columbus, Ohio, which is to receive $1.5 million.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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