A-10C flies on alcohol based fuel

On June 28th, an A-10C departed Eglin AFB, Florida using a new Alcohol-To-Jet fuel. ATJ is a cellulose based fuel, that can use any material that is cell based. They extract sugars from the material, and then ferment it into alcohol, which is then converted to a kerosene based fuel.

The Air Force has certified the Fischer-Tropsch SPK blend, bio-fuel for use in aircraft, but this is the first alcohol based fuel. The A-10 was used because it has a segregated fuel system. One engine used the ATJ fuel, the other used traditional fuel. If the engine on the ATJ fuel continues to run well, they progress to using ATJ in both engines.

July 3, 2012 - On Thursday, the 40th Flight Test Squadron made history flying the first aircraft to use a new fuel blend derived from alcohol. "The A-10 is the first aircraft ever to fly on this fuel," said Jeff Braun, Chief for the Air Force Alternative Fuel Certification Division, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

"It flew like a usual A-10 would without any issues," said Maj. Olivia Elliott, an A-10 pilot and an evaluator for the mission. The fuel, known as ATJ (Alcohol-to-Jet) is the third alternative fuel to be evaluated by the Air Force for fleet wide use as a replacement for standard petroleum derived JP-8 aviation fuel.

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reply to post by Zaphod58


This is really cool! I was wondering how long until we started hearing about biofuels that can come from basically any organic matter as opposed to corn or sugar.

I'm also glad to see the A-10 continuing to be a beast.

reply to post by Mkoll


If I remember correctly, another process used can use anything that is carbon based. But this one is really interesting in that it's alcohol based. But there are currently a couple of biofuels that are approved for the Air Force, and right now the Nimitz battlegroup is sailing around Hawaii running on biofuels. The only thing is that the oil industry is getting upset by all this, so Congress passed a bill that the military can't buy biofuels unless they are cheaper than petroleum based fuels, trying to force them to use traditional fuels.

Jeez like i need another reason to want a WarHog. If they make it to where one could operate and make enough power off of straight moonshine one might come up missing off the ramp at Davis-Mothan AFB. Again

Wonder if the power ratio is better for alcohol based fuel than with JP-8?

Originally posted by Zaphod58
The only thing is that the oil industry is getting upset by all this, so Congress passed a bill that the military can't buy biofuels unless they are cheaper than petroleum based fuels, trying to force them to use traditional fuels.

And it was a good bill to be passed because the biofuels they were using were like $300 a barrel compared to what petroleum was of like $100.

reply to post by DaRAGE


Of course it is, because it's a new technology, and there is only a little of it available right now. But it's like buying a plane. The B-2 cost an obscene amount of money because they only bought 21 of them. If they had bought the original 200 that were planned, the costs would be spread out more, and they would have been down in the $2-300M range per airframe. Same with the F-22. It's the same with biofuel. Right now it's $300 a barrel, but if it's bought in big enough lots, it'll drop significantly, and will become cheaper than petroleum.