NASA begins in-flight research on alternative fuels impacts
NASA has initiated the Alternative Fuel Effects on Contrails and Cruise Emissions (ACCESS) research to study the effects of alternate biofuel on engine performance, emissions and aircraft-generated contrails at altitude.
It involves flying the NASA DC-8 as high as 40,000 feet while an instrumented NASA Falcon HU-25 aircraft trails behind at distances ranging from 300 feet to more than 10 miles. During the flights, the DC-8's four CFM56 engines will be powered by conventional JP-8 jet fuel, or a 50-50 blend of JP-8 and an alternative fuel of hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids that comes from camelina plants. More than a dozen instruments mounted on the Falcon jet will characterize the soot and gases streaming from the DC-8, monitor the way exhaust plumes change in composition as they mix with air, and investigate the role emissions play in contrail formation.
A 3 weeks flight campaign is scheduled which may be followed by a second one in 2014 with a more extensive set of instruments.
NASA press release