posted
According to recent news release this company is supposed to get the research funding for a new military fuel due to the rising demand for fuel and cost of fuel going up. The Air Force consumed 3.2 billion gallons of aviation fuel in fiscal year 2005, which was 52.5 percent of all fossil fuel used by the government, Pentagon statistics show. The total Air Force bill for jet fuel last year topped $4.7 billion.
posted
This is a nice comparison of various companies involved in synthetic fuels. Rentech, this was once on my watch list, couple years back. Wish now I had bought.
Appears most synthetic fuel companies are in a downtrend, which is surprising.
posted
AF receives first shipment of synthetic fuel
article is in the stars and stripes mideast edition for 1 july 2006. AF has team of consultants working with the South African National Defense Force to discuss that country's conversion project and its applicability to the U.S. Military
IP: Logged |
COMPANY NEWS AND PRESS RELEASES FROM OTHER SOURCES:
Syntroleum sells Pentagon 100,000 gallons of fuel
Jun 29, 2006 (Tulsa World - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) -- Military aircraft at Tinker Air Force Base and other locations will soon be flying on alternative fuel made by Tulsa-based Syntroleum Corp. The company, which has a patented process for converting natural gas and coal into synthetic fuel, has signed a contract to deliver 100,000 gallons of the unique fuel to the Department of Defense for testing and evaluation. It's the biggest request for fuel Syntroleum has received.
The contract represents significant progress in the company's effort to build a commercial plant.
"It's a step in that direction," said Syntroleum spokesman Mel Scott. "Getting a large contract like this means there is interest in it."
The fuel is being produced at Syntroleum's gas-to-liquids demonstration plant at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa.
"We'll be sending approximately 25 percent of the fuel to Tinker Air Force Base for evaluation," said Jon Warzel, Syntroleum's vice president of business development and government programs. "A good percentage of the fuel will be going out to California for a flight test in a B-52."
Syntroleum is the first company to provide fuel to the DOD's Assured Fuels Initiative, a program charged with improving the supply of domestic aviation fuels.
"You can be lots of things in life, but only one company gets to be first," Warzel said.
Syntroleum's synthetic fuel burns up to 90 percent cleaner than conventional jet fuel and can be made from coal, an abundant source of domestic energy, the company says.
"The No. 1 goal for this is to have a domestic source for fuel," said DOD spokeswoman Sue Murphy.
The United States has about 270 billion tons of proven coal reserves, more than any country. Converting just 10 percent of those reserves into liquid fuel would generate 54 billion barrels, nearly twice the oil reserves in the United States, Syntroleum has said.
The cost of producing liquid fuel from coal is now competitive with the cost of refining it from oil because of higher oil prices and new incentives for coal gasification plants.
Converting coal into synthetic fuel is not new. The process was invented in 1923 by two German scientists, Franz Fischer and Hans Tropsch. Germany used the Fischer-Tropsch process to manufacture diesel fuel during World War II.
But the technology is gaining momentum as a viable, clean alternative to fuel made from oil thanks to higher petroleum prices and improvements in the technology.
"The Fischer-Tropsch fuels are a higher quality product than crude oil-based fuels," Warzel said.
Syntroleum, founded in 1984, is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol SYNM. Shares closed Wednesday at $5.24, down 27 cents, or 4.9 percent.
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
