Air Force groups to receive recognition for alternative fuels initiative

  • Published
  • By Janaé Daniels
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will present its 2007 Excellence in Aviation Research award to the United States Air Force B-52 Aircraft Fischer-Tropsch (FT) Fuels
Research Team March 14 at Wright- Patterson AFB, Ohio. 

This prestigious award is given annually to individuals or institutions outside the FAA whose research contributions have resulted in a significantly safer, more efficient national airspace system. 

"Arnold Engineering Development Center's (AEDC) role in supporting this important effort was two-fold; first the 717th Test Squadron served as the Responsible Test Organization for the ground testing phase of the demonstration," said Ed Tucker, 717th Test Squadron test project manager. "In that capacity we worked with a team of representatives from many Air Force and DoD organizations to plan and execute the ground tests, followed by an assessment and reporting of the results." 

The team makes history as the first in the Air Force to certify a synthetic fuel blend for its B-52 Fleet. The FT process for synthesizing fuel could decrease our nations dependence on foreign oil. Also, B-52 tests of the FT blended fuel have shown reduced
exhaust smoke and particulate emissions. Aircraft system managers to accelerate their FT-JP8 fuel blend certification process, saving millions of dollars, will leverage the data
gathered from these tests. 

The team procedures and methodology have been proven sound by independent review and will be used on the C-17 and other aircraft with a goal of total Air Force fleet certification to use FT fuel blends. They have also worked closely with the commercial aviation community and support the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuel Initiative. Qualifying the C-17, which uses commercially derived turbofans, will provide valuable data for the certification of alternative fuels for civil aviation. 

"The lessons learned from the initial FT fuel demonstration of the B-52 engine laid the foundation for the successful testing of the B-1 Bomber engine SJ-8 fuel that was
conducted in AEDC's J-1 test cell in 2007," Tucker said. 

The F101 testing was the first series to qualify a high performance, afterburning engine with FT fuel for a combat aircraft. 

The FAA award and the success of the demonstration and certification of synthetic fuel in the B-52 would not have occurred without the many talented people from various organizations: Air Force Research Laboratory, Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Aeronautical Systems Center, Air Combat Command, Air Force Flight Test Center, AEDC, Air Force Petroleum Agency, HQ Air Force, HQ AFMC and the University of Dayton
Research Institute.