An Open Checkbook from The Dept of Defense

By: Douglas Kirkpatrick - July 20, 2007
Source: STO

In mid November 2007- the DOD (and DOE) announced that they DOD had a blank check available to any organization that could provide essentially a continuous supply of JP-8 or jet fuel. The only issue or criterion was that they would only deal with a total solution. The organization had to provide tested supply and delivery.

To illustrate the issues think of an air base in Hawaii. The west coast is mostly volcanic while the east coast is jungle. Cellulosic or compost derived ethanol could be a solution on the east coast, but the only viable solution on the west coast to supply was oil from algae. So teamwork and consortium were the major concepts stressed by DARPA.

It is interesting to note that participation in their conferences on both coasts and Hawaii required a security check. Also this effort by agencies of our administration is attempting to foster jet fuel production away from petroleum dependence as well as from sources that compete for food stocks. Realizing that the incentives for ethanol have already caused certain food prices to rise.

Who is DARPA? Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Advanced Technology Office (ATO) is interested in proposals for research and development efforts to develop a process that efficiently produces a surrogate for petroleum based military jet fuel (JP-8) from oil-rich crops produced by either agriculture or aquaculture (including but not limited to plants, algae, fungi, and bacteria) and which ultimately can be an affordable alternative to petroleum-derived JP-8. Current commercial processes for producing biodiesel yield a fuel that is unsuitable for military applications, which require higher energy density and a wide operating temperature range.

Under the Strategic Technology Office has even set up a website to help facilitate the teaming efforts of companies. Boeing, NASA, Ames Research Center, Los Alamos Laboratory and many other large and medium companies have opened their doors to team with individual providers of components for the total solution to providing a reliable and sustainable supply of JP-8.

This teaming web site www.sainc.com/biofuels has been established to facilitate collaboration between interested parties for BAA 08-07, BioFuels, and is consistent with the stated purpose of this BAA. Networking and team formation are the responsibility of the participants and are not controlled by DARPA. Only documents with distribution unlimited statements will be accepted for posting on this site.

Point of Contact

Douglas Kirkpatrick, Program Manager, STO

Phone 703-526-4762, Fax 703-516-8788, Email Douglas.Kirkpatrick@darpa.mil

Click here to read the entire effort from DARPA