Power hungry: market for synthetic aviation fuels off to a shaky start.

A draft report is expected in July, with the final report due by year's end, says David Gray, director of energy systems analysis with Noblis, a research firm in Falls Church, Va. Gray sits on the board of the National Academies studies. Noblis previously conducted a study commissioned by the Air Force and the National Energy Technology Laboratory to evaluate how much biomass would have to be mixed with coal to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Despite the hurdles, the Air Force and industry are not slowing down.

Although the Air Force cannot yet purchase synthetic jet fuel on a commercial scale, an exemption in the 2007 energy act does allow it to buy fuel for testing.

The service bought its first batch in 2006 from Syntroleum, an energy company based in Tulsa, Okla. The company has since closed down its plant. The Air Force plans to purchase 300,000 gallons this year, but has not yet released a bid, Anderson tells reporters. The Defense Logistics Agency will release two bids on behalf of the Air Force, one for a coal-to-liquids fuel and the other from any feedstock. Last year, the service bought 281,000 gallons of gas-to-liquids fuel from Shell in Malaysia.

In March, the Air Force completed its first supersonic flight test using a 50/50 mix of petroleum and Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquid fuel. A B-1B Lancer from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, flew over New Mexico and Texas, according to the Air Force. A B-52 Stratofortress and a C-17 Globemaster III have also flown using the synthetic mix.

The commercial industry also began testing alternative jet fuels in February when Virgin Atlantic flew a Boeing 747-400 from London to Amsterdam powered by 80 percent petroleum and 20 percent biodiesel derived from tropical oils, says Imperium Renewables, the company that provided the fuel.

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