{"id":75838,"date":"2020-06-18T07:23:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T05:23:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=75838"},"modified":"2020-06-16T17:27:08","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T15:27:08","slug":"revolutionizing-tomahawk-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/revolutionizing-tomahawk-fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"Revolutionizing Tomahawk fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"49619243481_7246326129_o\"
April 20, 2020 tomahawk A Tomahawk missile begins its tip-over phase of flight after being launched from the guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett.CREDIT: U.S. Navy\/Carmichael Yepez<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The U.S. Navy\u2019s Tomahawks, which are long-range, all-weather cruise missiles, can instantly shift course mid-air, striking with GPS-enabled pinpoint accuracy. More than 2,300 Tomahawks have been used in combat, and they remain a critical part of modern U.S. defense. But in contrast to their performance reliability, the sourcing of Tomahawk fuel\u2014called JP-10\u2014is becoming more of a challenge.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Current JP-10 production methods rely on molecules derived from petroleum, which is a fossil fuel. To reduce American dependence on fossil fuels, the Department of Energy asked Los Alamos scientists to find an alternative JP-10 production process. Scientists took that challenge one step further by making the process greener and cleaner.<\/p>\n

\"JP10\"
Andrew Sutton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve patented a production process that makes JP-10 from domestic renewable feedstocks, such as corn bran,\u201d says biomass conversion chemist Andrew Sutton, \u201cwhich means we can make our own fuel from start to finish in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

The JP-10 produced from Sutton\u2019s process performs the same as the JP-10 from petroleum-derived molecules. It\u2019s the same product, but a better process\u2014better because its production doesn\u2019t require harsh acids, thereby generating significantly less chemical waste. In addition, the raw materials, because they\u2019re biomass, are renewable, and their use in the new process boosts U.S. agriculture.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur process supports domestic jobs and simultaneously secures our nation,\u201d says synthesis chemist Cameron Moore. \u201cFor example, producers of the domestic corn ethanol used in gasoline (up to 10 percent) can now use the byproducts of their process to make JP-10.\u201d What was once a low-value byproduct of corn ethanol production can now be a high-value, profitable co-product. Sutton and Moore\u2019s JP-10 production process is helping to diversify what was once a niche market.<\/p>\n

And at the same time that the domestic economy will be bolstered by this alternative process, the cost of JP-10 may be significantly reduced, by about 50 percent, dropping the current price of $27.50 per gallon down to as low as $10.70 per gallon. So, our supply of Tomahawk fuel will be more reliable and more cost-effective.<\/p>\n

Sutton\u2019s success directly ties to JP-10\u2019s future, in that once the cost per gallon of
\nJP-10 comes down enough, it can be considered for many more aviation applications. \u201cRight now,\u201d Sutton says, \u201cJP-10 fuels Tomahawk cruise missiles, but it is being looked at as a potential high-energy-density jet fuel as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

This could be quite the tactical advantage for the U.S. military\u2014energy-dense fuel means more bang for your buck, so jets won\u2019t have to designate as much weight to fuel. This can translate to longer flights or more weapons carried.<\/p>\n

\"Odyssey
A Tomahawk cruise missile launches in March 2011. Photo: U.S. Navy\/Jonathan Sunderman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. Navy\u2019s Tomahawks, which are long-range, all-weather cruise missiles, can instantly shift course mid-air, striking with GPS-enabled pinpoint accuracy. More than 2,300 Tomahawks have been used in combat, and they remain a critical part of modern U.S. defense. But in contrast to their performance reliability, the sourcing of Tomahawk fuel\u2014called JP-10\u2014is becoming more of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[10794,5838,10617],"supplier":[4476,2961],"class_list":["post-75838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-aviationfuel","tag-bioeconomy","tag-jetfuel","supplier-los-alamos-national-laboratory","supplier-us-navy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75838\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75838"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=75838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}