Cobalt, US Navy to produce renewable jet fuel from bio n-butanol

Robert Mayer, CEO, Cobalt Technologies.

CALIFORNIA, US: The US Naval Air Warfare Centre Weapons Division (NAWCWD) awarded contract to Albemarle Corporation to complete its first biojet fuel production of bio n-butanol provided by Cobalt Technologies. Albemarle will use NAWCWD technologies to process Cobalt’s bio n-butanol into renewable jet fuel at its Baton Rouge processing facility. Upon completion, the resulting jet fuel will be tested by the US Naval Air Warfare Centre, Aircraft Division as a continuing process for military certification through the Department of Defense.

The combined science team from Cobalt and the NAWCWD focused on scaling and optimizing the dehydration chemistry for the conversion of bio n-butanol to 1-butene, followed by oligomerization of the biobutene into jet fuel, based on a process developed at NAWCWD in China Lake, California. Once the team completed its initial research, the search for a large-scale processing partner began, which resulted in the awarding of today’s contract to Albemarle. “This is a significant milestone not only for our collective team, but for the greater industry looking to advance sustainable jet fuels,” said Robert Mayer, CEO, Cobalt Technologies.

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