All these issues were in the news this past year, but a story in Ag Week yesterday gave us a glimpse of another facet of the restricted air travel. Because less jet fuel was needed for air travel, more was available to be converted to diesel fuel. As a result, the price of diesel could remain stable or even better for 2021.
The Ag Week article by Jonathan Knutson cited remarks from bioenergy and bioproducts economist David Ripplinger, who spoke (virtually) at a farm show in North Dakota.
"This is really important to agriculture. We can convert and modify jet fuel into diesel fuel, which is great (for agriculture.). They're trying to find a home for all of this fuel that used to be jet fuel. That's a really bullish thing for agriculture" as the new crop season approaches, he said.
"It's a good sign that diesel fuel (prices) will be low. This is good for North Dakota farmers who might be looking to go into those diesel markets to buy fuel, including early for spring. I don't see any reason why we would see the significant disruptions and storage issues that we saw in the spring of 2020," he said.
We've all had to make many adjustments this year. It's not a stretch to say that it has been a year that's made us seek out new ways to turn lemons into lemonade.
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You can read the full story here.
Gasoline consists of hydrocarbons that contain anywhere from 7 to 11 carbon atoms with hydrogen molecules attached.
ReplyDeleteJet fuel, on the other hand, contains hydrocarbons more in the range of 12 to 15 carbon atoms. In more colloquial terminology, jet fuel is made up mostly of kerosene.
Theoretically speaking, jets and cars could run off of the same fuel, but the environments that airplanes travel through tend to be very different than normal driving conditions. Temperatures in flight for airplanes can drop to under -40˚ C. At this low temperature, normal gasoline would likely freeze, ultimately causing proper combustion to stop.
For this main reason, kerosene is good for jet fuel because it has a lower freezing point. Kerosene also has a higher flash point, which makes it much safer in preventing unplanned combustion. Given the lower freezing point of jet fuel and the higher flash point, the fuel has a much wider safe operational temperature range.
The other difference between gasoline and jet fuel is the additives injected into the mix for jet fuel. Anti-static chemicals, de-icing agents, anticorrosive agents, and anti-bacterial agents are all added to jet fuel to make sure that no unexpected circumstances are met while flying high in the sky.
Jet fuel can actually be used in cars, but only in diesel engines. Kerosene jet fuel and diesel are actually similar enough to allow for cross-functionality and would provide a similar performance.