Supersonic jets may one day be capable of zipping from New York to Tokyo in a couple of hours, thanks to high-velocity engines powered by, of all things, coal.
Coal looks likely to be a key element in new jet fuels, which burn hotter, cleaner, safer and faster than petroleum-based products.
After nine years of research funded by the U.S. Air Force, Pennsylvania State University’s Energy Institute has concluded that coal can be used in the operation of ramjet-powered aircraft (that is, aircraft that can travel as fast as nine times the speed of sound).
Until now, the development of such aircraft has been hindered by the high level of heat to which the fuel is exposed during operation of the jet engine. The petroleum-based fuel currently used in commercial aircraft is typically exposed to operating temperatures below 600F, keeping it both safe and effective.
As speeds climb, however, so does the operating temperature around the engine. Petroleum-based fuels exposed to higher heats become less stable and eventually decay to form solid deposits in the engine and fuel lines, with disastrous consequences.
To cope with operating temperatures as high as 900F in ramjet-powered aircraft, researchers have turned to coal-derived fuels.
At a chemical level, these fuels share coal’s distinctive, ring-like, hydrocarbon makeup, which has proved to be far more stable at high temperatures than the straight-line hydrocarbon structure of petroleum-based products.
Coal-based fuel can function normally in flow reactors that mimic the conditions of super-heated ramjet-engines. Further tests will examine how the coal-based fuel behaves in actual engines. If all goes according plan, a working coal-based prototype could be available by 2003.
Though designed for future high-speed aircraft, the fuel could also be used to power current commercial aircraft, according to the Energy Institute.
The fuel would not necessarily make commercial planes fly faster, but, by reducing high-altitude emissions, it could make them fly cleaner.
— The preceding is an excerpt from Mining: Who Needs It?, a publication of the Mining Association of British Columbia.
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