the airlines & biofuel

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July 1st, 2015 at 8:41:57 AM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Later this summer, United Airlines' flights between LAX & SFO will be using a blend of 70 percent traditional jet fuel and 30 percent biofuel derived from farm waste and animal fat. The biofuel supplier, Fulcrum, will be opening a refinery in Nevada in 2017, and 5 more refineries elsewhere in the U.S.

Fulcrum says it could produce its biofuel for “a lot less than” $1 a gallon. (United paid an average of $2.99/gallon in 2014.) “We are producing very large volumes at a very good price,” Fulcrum CEO James Macias said.

Alaska Airlines aims to use biofuels at least at one of its airports by 2020. Southwest Airlines announced last year that it would purchase about three million gallons a year of jet fuel made from wood residues from Red Rock Biofuels. The first blend of this new fuel product, however, won’t be available until 2016. Last year, British Airways joined with Solena Fuels to build a biofuel refinery near London’s Heathrow Airport, which will be completed by 2017.

Should the oil companies be worried?
July 1st, 2015 at 8:58:02 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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If they were smart they would lock up distribution of it. Hard to say if enough can be made to compete with regular jet fuel. It will take a decade to see the long-term effects on the engines.

Distribution is key. The integrateds own the pipelines. tanks, and trucks in one form or another.
The President is a fink.
July 1st, 2015 at 9:44:45 AM permalink
Wizard
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One should also consider the energy per gallon. I would imagine that a gallon of conventional jet fuel will hold more energy than a gallon of biofuel, so the plane will need to carry more biofuel, which will require burning up more. It would make for a good calculus problem.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
July 2nd, 2015 at 8:14:31 AM permalink
reno
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Quote: AZDuffman
Distribution is key. The integrateds own the pipelines. tanks, and trucks in one form or another.


Good point. The major airports receive fuel via pipeline. I wonder how United is blending the biofuel into their jet fuel supply. I presume they own their own storage tanks at SFO & LAX (SFO is a United hub), but the blending is surely taking place off-site, not at the airport itself. And if this fuel is only being used on 1 route, United must designate a separate tank just for certain planes. Sounds complicated...

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If the main ingredient of Fulcrum's biofuel really is farm waste, my assumption is that the price will be consistent and predictable. (My assumption might be wrong!) If so, this is a huge advantage over jet fuel prices which rise & fall in concert with the volatile oil market. The airlines hate this volatility because they're selling seats for flights 12 months in the future, and the price of oil 12 months from now is anyone's guess. The solution, of course, is to hedge the jet fuel and lock in a low price, but hedging can also be risky. American Airlines stopped hedging in 2013, and they benefited tremendously when oil prices crashed in late 2014. In contrast, Delta lost $1.2 billion on hedging in 2015. Either way, it's a gamble.

July 2nd, 2015 at 8:34:28 AM permalink
reno
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Quote: Wizard
I would imagine that a gallon of conventional jet fuel will hold more energy than a gallon of biofuel,


Not necessarily. Conventional jet fuel has an energy density of about 35 megjoules per liter. Ethanol only has about 20 MJ/L. But biodiesel is comparable to conventional jet fuel: it's also about 35 MJ/L. Fulcrum says their process can be used to manufacture either biodiesel or jet biofuel.
July 2nd, 2015 at 9:18:27 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: reno
Good point. The major airports receive fuel via pipeline. I wonder how United is blending the biofuel into their jet fuel supply. I presume they own their own storage tanks at SFO & LAX (SFO is a United hub), but the blending is surely taking place off-site, not at the airport itself. And if this fuel is only being used on 1 route, United must designate a separate tank just for certain planes. Sounds complicated...


It is probably off site as this is not like putting half regular and half unleaded premium in a 440 mill in 1980 to get the needed lead. So if they have the tank easy to just rent pipeline time for the other fuel. They could take a page out of DAL and buy a refinery.
The President is a fink.
June 4th, 2018 at 3:51:58 PM permalink
reno
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Boeing just delivered a 777 to FedEx that flew on 100% biofuel made from animal fat & beef tallow. Jeanne Yu, Boeing Commercial Airplanes director for technology integration and the ecoDemonstrator program, said, “It’s the first time we’ve flown 100 percent biofuel. Today you can only fly a 50 percent blend, so this is the first ever 100 percent." This biofuel actually has three to four percent more energy in it per gallon than regular jet fuel. That means the plane can fly much farther than one that uses standard fuel. The price for biofuel is also dropping, from $8 or more per gallon a few years ago to $5 per gallon today.
June 4th, 2018 at 4:16:30 PM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
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That range extension might be critical on certain flights. it would require a dedicated plane and dedicated fuel storage and handling equipment but it just might make the difference on certain flights.
June 4th, 2018 at 4:55:48 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
I wonder if they intend to eventually try 100% or was it just a test and there will always be a blend?
The President is a fink.
June 5th, 2018 at 8:22:59 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Wizard
One should also consider the energy per gallon. I would imagine that a gallon of conventional jet fuel will hold more energy than a gallon of biofuel, so the plane will need to carry more biofuel, which will require burning up more. It would make for a good calculus problem.


I think that would be an issue for very long haul flights. I think that the target for biofuels would be Southwest Airlines who consumed 2 billion gallons of fuel a year carrying people on flight segments that average about 750 miles. That would require roughly 60 lbs of fuel per seat per segment (less than 8 gallons) plus a little extra for landings and takeoffs and possible diversions. Even if the biofuel is slightly heavier to get the same amount of energy per person, the incidental increase in weight would be negligible.

Now the longest ultra long range flights like the new one this October to restore nonstop service from Singapore to Newark NJ, requires well over 3000 lbs of fuel per seat. An increase in the required number of gallons might mean the plane can't make the trip, and if it does make the trip you are carrying a lot more weight per seat for a longer period of time.

I calculated the average mpg for seat for the major airlines for the first quarter of 2018 by simply dividing available seat miles by gallons of fuel used (both in millions). I was a little surprised that American did about the same as Delta as they have a much newer fleet.


Mpg.seat ASM Gallons Airline
63.52 59,453.00 936.00 Delta
63.91 65,823.00 1,030.0 American
66.50 61,977.00 932.00 United
72.48 4,731.31 65.28 Hawaiian
76.41 37,366.47 489.00 Southwest
81.97 14,098.00 172.00 Alaska
88.51 8,408.76 95.00 Spirit


Airline Source
Delta https://s1.q4cdn.com/231238688/files/Delta-Air-Lines-Announces-March-Quarter-Profit.pdf
American https://americanairlines.gcs-web.com/static-files/892e314e-b150-4388-ab11-ec47485c8185
United http://otp.investis.com/generic/sec/sec-show.aspx?ipage=12690310&Cik=0000100517&Type=PDF
Hawaiian https://newsroom.hawaiianairlines.com/releases/hawaiian-holdings-reports-2018-first-quarter-financial-results
Southwest http://investors.southwest.com/~/media/Files/S/Southwest-IR/1Q18%2010-Q%20Final%20Filed%20743.pdf
Alaska http://investor.alaskaair.com/news-releases/news-release-details/alaska-air-group-reports-first-quarter-2018-results
Spirit http://ir.spirit.com/static-files/22fd4c21-667e-4b02-a6df-13e7a4063ec1
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