Originally Posted by
JamesNoBrakes
I've flown the austro diesel quite a bit now, and it is impressive how little fuel they burn, but there is a HUGE problem with diesel...
You know that diesel and jet fuel aren't that far apart, right? If there were no demand for petrol (gasoline), then they wouldn't make it.
I'm not sure what you're proposing, but there are bunches of planes using dinosaur Lycoming and Continental engines, that are burning regular car gas. I was burning car gas (with a legal STC) in my 1974 Cessna 172M with Lycoming O-320-E2D over 20 years ago. Nothing new.
Higher compression and turbocharged engines need more octane. That's just a fact. Any fuel that replaces what those engines were certified for would require modifications or power reductions, or both.
My utopia would be all airplanes would burn one fuel; jet A / diesel. Then, when jet fuel replacements become price acceptable (or we run out of cheap oil), then all planes would switch over to that synthetic oil replacement.
Product
Gallons per barrel
gasoline
19.5
distillate fuel oil
(Includes both home heating oil and diesel fuel)
9.2
kerosene-type jet fuel
4.1
residual fuel oil
(Heavy oils used as fuels in industry, marine transportation and for electric power generation)
2.3
liquefied refinery gasses
1.9
still gas
1.9
coke
1.8
asphalt and road oil
1.3
petrochemical feedstocks
1.2
lubricants
0.5
kerosene
0.2
other
0.3
Figures are based on 1995 average yields for U.S. refineries. One barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. The total volume of products made is 2.2 gallons greater than the original 42 gallons of crude oil. This represents "processing gain."