Using fat to make biofuel

The engineers from North Caroline State University have developed a new biofuel technology to turn any fat source into fuel that can be used for powering jet airplanes.
Any form of oil can be used for the production of fuel like vegetable oils, animal fat and even from algae.

The technology used here in the creation of the fuel is called Centia which means “green power” in Latin.

NC State has received provisional patents for the process of converting fats into jet fuels and for additives in cold weather biodiesel fuels.

Researchers of the process claim that besides being “100 percent green” this technology has its advantages over other biofuel projects as any lipid based feedstock or raw material with a fat source can be used for converting into fuel.

Even the low quality feedstock like cooking grease can be used for producing fuel. This low quality feedstock reduces fuel production costs by 30% when compared to using corn or canola oils to make fuel.
Moreover this form of fuel production does not compete with the demand for creating sufficient food supply to be used for fuel production.

Another benefit of Centia in creating fuel is that the resultant fuel burns cleaner and is better for the environment.
With Centia, what other biodiesel processes throw away, is put to use. In other biodiesel processes, a low value commodity called glycerol is obtained as a by-product. This is usually discarded in other biodiesel plants while NC State engineers burn it to provide the necessary high temperatures required in Centia.

Creating a fuel fit for rockets has to be done by a rocket scientist, especially if it is to be done from oils or agricultural crops. This is because the chemical and physical properties of other biodiesel fuels don’t match the requirements of jet fuels. This is because jets travel at 25,000 to 35,000 feet with temperatures that reach 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. This is why jet fuels have to be able to flow better in cold temperatures.

There are four steps to the Centia process where the first one consists of engineers using high temperature and water pressure to rid the accumulated feedstock of oils and fats from free fatty acids.
Then the free fatty acids are placed in a reactor for the decarboxylation step where carbon dioxide is taken off the free fatty acids.

With this, scientists are left with alkanes or straight chain hydrocarbons of 15 or 17 carbon atoms, depending on the feedstock that is used in the process.
On the completion of these two steps, any fuel can be prepared; this is why the last two steps of the process changes according to the fuel output that is required.

The straight chains are broken up into molecules with branches in the last two steps. This makes the chains more compact while changing its chemical and physical characteristics.
A mixture of molecules of 10 and 14 carbon atoms are required for producing jet fuel and biodiesel fuel while gasoline needs only eight carbon atoms.

Scientists control the process to get the fuel that they require and then with chemical tweaking, they create the final desired fuel. Comparatively, animal fats are harder to work with, but cost wise, they are better.

However the resultant jet fuel from these fats proves to save lots of money in the budge of the aviation industry.