Green Jet Fuel?

Chemical engineers in North Dakota have successfully produced a jet fuel alternative derived entirely from plant oil. Previous attempts at manufacturing bio-fuel for aircraft had been derailed by plant oil's characteristically high freezing temperature and low energy content compared to kerosene, but this newest iteration boasts a freezing point of -52.6 degrees fahrenheit and a mass and energy output virtually identical to the kerosene fuel. The engineers involved have stated that the refining process they've invented would be comparable in cost to petroleum refining or perhaps cheaper because volatile substances like sulfur are not part of the equation. While switching the nation's fleet of military and civilian jet aircraft to bio-fuel would substantially reduce our dependence on foreign oil, the most promising news about this process is that it can be used to produce an equivalent of any petroleum product, not just jet fuel. What this means is that a few short years from now we could be fueling our cars on a mixture of canola oil, coconut, and soy beans (the three major components of the new fuel) without the need for costly conversion kits or any substantial change to the Nation's transportation infrastructure. The process isn't perfect- because large quantities of rapeseed, soy and coconut need to be grown and harvested to produce the fuel its production is not carbon neutral, but it would go a long way towards weening us off foreign oil and oil in general.

Facts and figures from Scientific American article "Using Plants Instead of Petroleum to Make Jet Fuel" by David Biello.