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APPENDIX B
Certification and Drop-In
Capability of Alternative Jet Fuels
In considering alternative fuels for aviation use, an initial barrier that must be considered is
that the fuel must meet the requirements for use in aircraft. The specifications for jet fuel in the
United States and around the world are established by standard-setting organizations such as
ASTM International (www.astm.org) and the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence Standard
91-91 (www.dstan.mod.uk). The FAA refers manufacturers and operators of aircraft to these
standards in Aviation Circulars. The latest AC to refer to alternative jet fuels is 20-24C (FAA
2010a). Aviation equipment manufacturers have also adopted these organizations' standards.
ASTM standard D1655 defines the specifications for conventional fuels for commercial use,
such as Jet A and Jet A1. ASTM has also issued standards for all jet fuels from nonpetroleum
sources under ASTM D7566. Fuels complying with ASTM D7566 are approved for blends of up
to 50% synthetic fuel processes, with the remaining 50% derived from approved Jet A1 fuels.
There is no formal definition of or standard for drop-in alternative jet fuels. Nevertheless, an
informal definition for a drop-in fuel is one that is fully interchangeable with those fuels com-
plying with ASTM D1655. This interchangeability must be possible throughout the entire prod-
uct life cycle--from refinery to aircraft. This includes the intermediary distribution steps:
pipelines, tank farms, and fuel trucks.
Annexes of ASTM D7566 enable the approval of individual process types. The initial ver-
sion of ASTM D7566 provides criteria for the production, distribution, and use of aviation
turbine engine fuel produced from coal, natural gas or biomass using the Fischer-Tropsch
process (see Section D.1). However, the standard is structured to accommodate other future
types of synthetic fuels produced from nonconventional feedstocks and processes as they are
developed. These new fuel types can be added to ASTM D7566 in annexes after they are qual-
ified. For example, hydrotreated renewable jet or HEFA (see Section D.2) is expected to be
qualified for aviation use soon.
Jet fuel made from coal using the Fischer-Tropsch process has been in daily use for scheduled air-
line service in South Africa for more than 20 years. The South African energy and chemical com-
pany Sasol has produced SPK and other chemicals from locally sourced coal using its proprietary
version of the Fischer-Tropsch process. When blended up to 50% with conventional jet fuel, Sasol's
SPK was approved for use as commercial jet fuel under the U.K.'s DEFSTAN 91-91 in 1998. Since
1999, this jet fuel blend has been used successfully by commercial airlines in aircraft refueled at South
African airports, and since then South African Airlines has experienced no fuel-related problems
(Roets 2009), including air worthiness, safety, maintenance, or storage and handling in bulk stor-
age facilities (Moses 2008). Indeed, in 2008, DEFSTAN 91-91 approved Sasol's unblended synthetic
jet fuel as Jet A-1 fuel, for commercial use in all types of turbine aircraft (Sasol 2011).
Furthermore, there have been numerous examples of flight tests by commercial and mili-
tary aircraft using alternative jet fuels made with different technologies and feedstocks. A
summary of flight demonstrations in commercial aircraft is shown in Table 15. The flight
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Certification and Drop-In Capability of Alternative Jet Fuels 73
tests showed no significant difference in the performance of the alternative jet fuel compared
to conventional jet fuel.
Furthermore, researchers at the FAA, Department of Defense, and private institutions are
pursuing three other processes for approval in 20132014. As of this writing, these processes
are known as fermentation renewable jet (FRJ), catalytic renewable jet (CRJ), and pyrolysis
renewable jet (PRJ) (see Section D.4).
Table 15. Alternative jet fuel flight demonstrations in commercial aircraft.
Airline or
Engine Fuel
Date Other Aircraft Feedstock Technology Source
Maker Producer
Sponsor
Feb Rolls- Fischer-
Airbus A380 Shell Natural gas Airbus 2011
2008 Royce Tropsch
Dec Air New B747- Rolls- Warwick
UOP Jatropha HEFA
2008 Zealand 300 Royce 2009
Jan B737- Jatropha,
Continental GE/CFMI UOP HEFA DOE 2009
2009 800 algae
Camelina,
Jan Japan B747- Pratt & Mecham
UOP Jatropha, HEFA
2009 Airlines 300 Whitney 2008
algae
Oct A340- Rolls- Fischer- Qatar
Qatar Shell Natural gas
2009 600 Royce Tropsch Airways 2011
Nov B747- North Sea
KLM GE UOP Camelina HEFA
2009 400 Group 2011
Apr Fischer-
United A319 IAE Rentech Natural gas Kuhn 2009
2010 Tropsch
Nov
TAM A320 CFMI UOP Jatropha HEFA Karp 2010
2010
Apr InterJet
A320 CFMI UOP Jatropha HEFA Gross 2011
2011 (Mexico)
June Rolls-
Honeywell G450 UOP Camelina HEFA Chatzis 2011
2011 Royce
June
Boeing B747-8 GE UOP Camelina HEFA Lane 2011
2011
Palm oil,
July
Lufthansa A321 CFMI Neste Oil rapeseed, HEFA Reals 2011
2011
animal fats
July B737- Used
KLM CFMI Dynamic Fuels HEFA KLM 2011
2011 800 cooking oil
July SkyNRG Used
Finnair A319 CFMI HEFA Mroue 2011
2011 cooking oil
Aug B777- Aeromexico
Aeromexico GE ASA Jatropha HEFA
2011 200 2011
Sept Thomson Rolls- Used Thompson
B757 SkyNRG HEFA
2011* Airways Royce cooking oil 2011
Bomb-
Porter Bombardier
2012* ardier PWC UOP Camelina HEFA
Airlines 2010
Q400
Advanced
2012* Azul Embraer GE Amyris Sugarcane FRJ
Biofuels 2009
B747- Pratt & Stanway
2013* Air China UOP Jatropha HEFA
400 Whitney 2010
*Announced as of Aug 31, 2011
