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Pentagon To Make Jet Fuel From Algae

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

The brains trust of the Pentagon says it is just months away from producing a jet fuel from algae for the same cost as its fossil-fuel equivalent.

The claim, which comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that helped to develop the internet and satellite navigation systems, has taken industry insiders by surprise. A cheap, low-carbon fuel would not only help the US military, the nation’s single largest consumer of energy, to wean itself off its oil addiction, but would also hold the promise of low-carbon driving and flying for all.

Darpa’s research projects have already extracted oil from algal ponds at a cost of $2 per gallon. It is now on track to begin large-scale refining of that oil into jet fuel, at a cost of less than $3 a gallon, according to Barbara McQuiston, special assistant for energy at DARPA.

Read more at: Algae to solve the Pentagon’s jet fuel problem (Guardian UK)

*UPDATE: Biofuels of No Benefit to Military — RAND (New York Times)

See also: Algae: This Is Not The Biofuel You Are Looking For (LowFuel.org)

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