Direct alcohol vs. alcohol-to-jet SPK utilisation in commercial aviation - an energetic-operational analysis Online publication date: Wed, 27-Jul-2022
by Nils Bullerdiek; Steffen Voß; Ulf Neuling; Martin Kaltschmitt
International Journal of Sustainable Aviation (IJSA), Vol. 8, No. 3, 2022
Abstract: To support renewable energy utilisation in aviation apart from kerosene-based sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), a direct use of renewable alcohols (methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol) is analysed and compared to their use as alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) conversion intermediates. The energy demands in the form of alcohol and operational payload-range implications are analysed for two aircraft types, using a Bréguet range equation and a mass/energy balance approach. From an energetic perspective a direct alcohol usage is significantly more efficient compared to the ATJ pathway requiring 40% to 60% more alcoholic energy. Even considering low process losses and high kerosene fractions (95%), the ATJ conversion still requires about 16% (26% for methanol) more alcoholic energy. Especially for methanol and ethanol that lead to significant payload-range losses compared to kerosene of approx. 70% and 50%. These effects are less significant for propanol, butanol, and pentanol with range reductions of 40%, 30%, and 25%.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sustainable Aviation (IJSA):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com