Synthetic Fuels and Biofuels: Questionable Replacements for Petroleum

Abstract

The anticipation of synthetic fuel and biodiesel entering the fuel supply has led to concern regarding the relative stability of Fischer-Tropsch (FT) fuel, biofuel, and their blends with petroleum. This report summarizes the storage stability results found for a stable petroleum fuel and its blends with biodiesel and FT diesel. The findings show that at even low concentration, 5%, biodiesel appears insoluble in FT and FT petroleum middle distillate blends. The insolubility produced a large yield of sediments in the ASTM storage stability test. This insolubility means the fuel could not be stored or used as diesel fuel for combat operations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 31, 2008
Accession Number
ADA493237

Entities

People

  • Frederic W. Williams
  • George W. Mushrush
  • Heather Willauer
  • Joy W. Bauserman

Organizations

  • United States Naval Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biodiesels
  • Biofuels
  • Chemical Properties
  • Chemistry
  • Combat Operations
  • Combat Readiness
  • Diesel Fuels
  • Fuels
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Materials
  • Materials Laboratories
  • Materials Science
  • Materials Testing
  • Military Applications
  • Petroleum
  • Petroleum Diesels
  • Synthetic Fuels

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Petroleum Engineering

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology