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Using Plants Instead of Petroleum to Make Jet Fuel | 19 comments

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Technology News posted 10/3/08 | 19 comments

Using Plants Instead of Petroleum to Make Jet Fuel

Chemical engineers in North Dakota have successfully turned oil from plants—canola (rapeseed), coconuts and soybeans—into jet fuel indistinguishable from the conventional kind, according to U.S. government tests. Working with the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), scientists at the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota turned these plant oils into fuel that had a similar density, energy content and even freezing point.

"It's got a freeze point of –47 degrees Celsius (–52.... [more]

Special Editions posted 10/3/08 | 2 comments

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