Shale Oil - The Answer to the Jet Fuel Availability Question

The Department of Defense consumes approximately 2.7 percent of the total U.S. demand for petroleum. The Air Froce usage accounts for 57 percent of the DOD consumption with approximately 82 percent being consumed as jet fuel. The cost of this fuel to the Air Force has increased greatly since the 1973 oil embargo. The bill in 1973 was slightly over one-half billion dollars for 112 million barrels of JP-4, whereas, it is now approximately 1.6 billion dollars or about 6 percent of the Air Force annual budget for only 80 million barrels.

This paper discusses an Air Force program which will result in adequate fuel availability for the Air Force at an acceptable cost. Results of recent processing studies on alternative hydrocarbon sources from shale oil are presented, together with combustor studies directed to determining the effects of property variations on combustor performance, durability and level of harmful emissions. A projection of the chemical and physical properties of the future Air Force aviation turbine fuel is presented.