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Swift AvFuel: Too Good To Be True?

The worry about 100LL is less when it will disappear than how many more stories you'll have to endure predicting its imminent demise. We started in 1984, first warning of the air quality issue followed by the impending loss of the lead additives, which we predicted was just around the corner. Next, it was the refiners-there wouldnt be enough to make the stuff. Then all the states would run leaded fuel out of town or the truckers wouldnt truck it. It was always something. Yet, there it still is: Genuine 100LL at your local airport. Its at least available, even if it isn't cheap. But we swear, the stuff is going to go away and this time we mean it. The latest threat is simple economics: Declining demand may soon render avgas not worth the bother of blending, at least for some refiners. (Check back in 2015 to see how this prediction works out.) Next up as a would-be replacement is an intriguing new product that surfaced last summer called Swift Fuel-Swift being the name of the start-up company that proposes to develop the process to produce it. While other pretenders to the 100LL throne have come up short octane wise or just havent proven practical, the initial take on Swift Fuel is just the opposite. Initial tests show that it has the octane punch required to keep detonation-prone turbocharged engines from exploding, it burns cleanly, has no toxic lead and-get this-its a renewable biofuel that the inventors say can be made for $2 a gallon. If this sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true business schemes pitched on the cable channels, it might not be. Swift Fuel is a serious industrial research program whose claims at least pass the initial smell test. But there are some niggling details that, if not show stoppers, could sprinkle a little sand in the gears.

Paul Bertorelli
Verified

Edited By:

Omar Filipovic

The worry about 100LL is less when it will disappear than how many more stories you’ll have to endure predicting its imminent demise. We started in 1984, first warning of the air quality issue followed by the impending loss of the lead additives, which we predicted was just around the corner. Next, it was the refiners-there wouldnt be enough to make the stuff. Then all the states would run leaded fuel out of town or the truckers wouldnt truck it. It was always something.

Yet, there it still is: Genuine 100LL at your local airport. Its at least available, even if it isn’t cheap. But we swear, the stuff is going to go away and this time we mean

it. The latest threat is simple economics: Declining demand may soon render avgas not worth the bother of blending, at least for some refiners. (Check back in 2015 to see how this prediction works out.)

Next up as a would-be replacement is an intriguing new product that surfaced last summer called Swift Fuel-Swift being the name of the start-up company that proposes to develop the process to produce it. While other pretenders to the 100LL throne have come up short octane wise or just havent proven practical, the initial take on Swift Fuel is just the opposite. Initial tests show that it has the octane punch required to keep detonation-prone turbocharged engines from exploding, it burns cleanly, has no toxic lead and-get this-its a renewable biofuel that the inventors say can be made for $2 a gallon.

If this sounds like one of those too-good-to-be-true business schemes pitched on the cable channels, it might not be. Swift Fuel is a serious industrial research program whose claims at least pass the initial smell test. But there are some niggling details that, if not show stoppers, could sprinkle a little sand in the gears.

What Is This Stuff?

Swift Fuel touts itself as renewable biofuel, or what one petrochemical chemist we know calls, “an ethonalish type product.” But its not ethanol by any means. According to our interpretation of Swifts filed patents-reviewed for us by a petrochemical engineer-Swift proposes to produce what can be described as a basic oxygenate-based fuel derived from cellulosic biomass, as opposed to starch or food-based material. In other words, its not corn-based ethanol.

As shown in the flow chart at right, Swift proposes to use cellulosic biomass such as switchgrass and related plant matter and turn it into a high-octane fuel through a proprietary process. The patent language is sufficiently iffy to suggest Swift may have various ways of doing this, but the principles seem discernible.

As described in the Swift patents, the process begins by treating the plant material with an acid spray to break down the complex sugar compounds into something that bacteria can chew on to ferment into oxygenates. There are other ways of doing this, including enzymes and various chemical treatments. Presumably, Swift will experiment in the pilot-plant stage to determine which method is the most efficient. And efficiency is critical if this process is to be sustainable and profitable. Because handling large volumes of biomass and letting the stuff stew in a fermenter is slow going, throughput in biofuels is a major challenge.

Swifts fermentation process produces butanol and acetone. Butanol is a primary alcohol and is itself a potent fuel that some consider superior to ethanol, with higher heat content than ethanol. Its used as a gasoline oxygenate, but because yields from biomass are lower than ethanol, it hasnt gotten much of an economic push. Most butanol is made from petroleum.

Acetone is of the ketone family and used as a solvent for paints and varnishes and in plastics and synthetic fibers. If youve smelled nail polish remover, youve smelled

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.