ICYMI: Biofuels Are Having A Moment
April 09th, 2017
NASA has been carrying out some very interesting studies under the ACCESS (Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions Study) project in conjunction with NRC and DLR. This research has focused on the positive impacts of blending biofuels with jet fuel to reduce soot particle emissions, as an interim step to the full use of biofuels in the aviation industry, and also to justify the use of bio only fuels in the next generation of NASA “X” planes.
The NASA press release, about the outcomes from ACCESS, is here. This was issued to coincide with the publication of the associated research paper in Nature on 17th March 2017 – the synopsis for which is here.
The conclusions are highly positive about the adoption of blended fuels. However, there is now a need to build the research case for widespread commercial adoption of systems and adoption of technology and capabilities:
“While the promising results may suggest it would be logical to only use biofuels, Dr. Moore said a number of engineering and infrastructural limitations, including some jet engines needing a certain quota of traditional jet fuel to function safely, meant that wasn’t currently possible.”
There is a high concentration of research being conducted in biofuels being done in Atlantic Canada. This is a great opportunity given the international interest in this space to align the region to pursue large scale projects with the CARIC project model.
The best opportunity of assembling this type of team is also about to present itself in the form of the CARIC National Research Forum being held August 2017 in Vancouver. Where green energy will be one of the 4 strategic themes of the forum.
There are some key alignments that can be made in order to identify focused and relevant end-user defined research, in order to overcome issues of widespread biofuel adoption in the aerospace sector. Many of these research themes may be eligible for funding through CARIC programs.
The prominence of green energy research, and ability to present to a globally recognized research and innovation forum, with an audience of technocrats from the world’s leading aerospace companies is a highly unique opportunity.
Register here for the webinars about preparing and submitting project ideas for consideration and possible presentation at the event.
To explore this opportunity further, give Duncan McSporran, CARIC Atlantic Regional Director a call.