Boeing, Big Oil and Alternative Fuels

Written by Martin Nix

Officially, Boeing's stand on powering commercial aircraft on other fuels, besides mineral oil, is a No No. Boeing is a lot like Jurassic Park, with a lot of Fossil's Crawling around. Big Oil sits on the corporate board, and with close to 1/7th of the nation's oil supply used by the airlines...well they just ain't going to allow the competition to come in. Trouble is: the airlines are madder than all of Heaven over the price of fuel.

The truth is existing aircraft can run on alternative fuels, like alcohol or Biodiesel. The truth is, fuels like propane, natural gas or hydrogen can safely be integrated with commercial aircraft. To talk to Boeing spokespeople, they will tell you that the solution to greenhouse gases, and high cost of fuel is better energy efficiency. That is kind of like telling a drunk, if you drink slower, you will not be an alcoholic. Boeing bluntly is addicted to OIL.

Most promising is Biodiesel fuels, derived from farm products. While still not yet approved by the FAA, still there is potential. One major concern is freezing of the fuel lines. Biodiesel can gel, but if the aircrafts heating system is drafted, it can warm the fuel to ambient.
Alcohol (both methanol and ethanol) has already been tested and approved by the FAA...but so far no airline has concerted. Alcohol can also be derived from agricultural products. Even Biodiesel has some alcohol mixed in, thus aiding combustion.

Of interest are the inerting of fuel tanks with inert gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and (my favorite) Argon. There is a major concern over lightning strikes going into a fuel tank. It is suspected the cause of TWA 800, the 747 that blew up off New York, was in fact lightning. The FAA has recently ordered Boeing to install inerting gas generators on all international fleet worldwide. Yep, this mini operation will cost the airlines and Boeing a lot of $$$. But it means a safer fleet.

But making these fuels from renewable energy is still a task. Solar collectors can preheat feedstock, and solar photovoltaics can produce the electricity for the pumps. The fact is solar energy can be integrated with production of Biodiesel and Alcohol fuels. The concept of a solar powered refinery is feasible.

Another way of integrating solar energy as part of Biodiesel and Alcohol fuels has been dubbed HelioHydroelectric. If we are going to grow crops doe aircraft fuels, we need to know where the water is coming from.
Droughts are hard on plants. Few know this but under the AMERICAN west is a huge deep salt/alkaline water cavern. It is deep below fresh water tables. This salt water can be pumped to the surface for flooding dry salt lakes, creating evaporation ponds. This additional moisture creates local morning fog and local rain. The salt left behind in the ponds can be controlled to prevent contamination of fresh water. But more relevant, these salts are mineral laden with gold, silver, manganese, etc. By using electrolysis, these minerals can be mined from the salt ponds. That is how you finance the entire project. In fact, many 'dry wells' dug by the oil companies for exploration have hit this huge salt lake below ground. So in many cases the wells are already dug and ready.

Many nations do not have adequate oil resources, but do have other energy resources. Nepal for example has hydropower to make hydrogen.
Some nation's have little oil but do have natural gas (like Bolivia). My making aircraft multi-fuel it allows airlines to be able to tap into local energy resources, and not be so dependent on Middle East resources. Is an aircraft feasible to run on propane, natural gas, or hydrogen. Yes, but safety is a major concerned with liquid or compressed gas. If it is possible, there needs to be attention paid to inerting gases like Argon, Nitrogen, or Carbon Dioxide. Ironically, these gases can also be inserted into the engines. The expansion of these cold gases give additional trust, just like well, a shook up cola can. These gases also have known fire fighting capabilities. It may be possible to build a dual hull tank, with the interior tank being hydrogen, natural gas or propane. The exterior surrounding tank nitrogen, argon or carbon dioxide. While perhaps maybe too experimental for passenger aircraft, still it could be feasible for cargo-only aircraft.

Boeing is still stuck back in the days, believing oil will always remain $20.00 a barrel. It is indeed true. Airbus employees ride bicycles, trains and buses and ferry boats to work. Boeing employees drive expensive gasoline cars. Maybe that is the reason why Airbus is more receptive to these ideas than Boeing! Boeing could be doing more, and offer a new 787 running on clean and green fuels....if they only tried.

About the Author. Martin Nix is an ex-777 electrical engineer, who has been active in renewable energy issues.