Abstract
With dwindling petroleum resources, the need for alternate fuel resources has become immense. Any new fuel source needs to be home grown, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly. Although many such fuels are available for ground transportation, such as ethanol, there are not many options for alternate aviation fuels. One possible replacement fuel for jet fuel is biodiesel. Biodiesel has many similar properties to jet fuel, such as energy density and specific energy. However, production issues, low temperature properties, oxidative degradation provide significant challenges for implementation of biodiesel as an aviation fuel. This author studied these challenges by examining biodiesel produced from microalgae feedstock. The high production rates of microalgae make it an ideal feedstock. Furthermore, the growth of microalgae does not require arable land for growth. Hence, it does not figure into the land concerns of the “fuel vs. food” debate. The author examined methods of improving low temperature properties such as winterization and additives. For fighting oxidative degradation, this author examined research evaluating the procedure of adding antioxidants to lengthen oxidative stability. The study concluded that although pure microalgae biodiesel fuel would meet the criteria of being home grown, economically feasible, and environmentally friendly, the implementation of the fuel is still several years away. However, blends of petroleum diesel and microalgae biodiesel containing up to 30-vol% biodiesel can be implemented due to the better fuel properties of petroleum diesel.