If a biofuel refined from a scruffy little weedlike plant called camelina can hit supersonic speeds in a Navy fighter jet, imagine what it can do in your car. That’s the idea driving Sustainable Oils, which has been working on high performance aviation biofuel from camelina for about five years. Last fall the company started delivering the first of an initial 40,000 gallon consignment for the Navy to test camelina biofuel on a bench mounted Super Hornet F414 engine.
This year on April 22nd, the U.S. Navy put an F/A-18 Super Hornet in flight using a 50-50 blend of conventional jet and camelina biofuel. Dubbed the Green Hornet in honor of Earth Day, the aircraft is (according to the Navy) the first to reach supersonic speeds using a 50-50 biofuel blend. The Navy might not claim sole ownership of that mark for long: the U.S. Air Force is also testing camelina biofuel.