UOP, a Honeywell company, is accelerating its research and development (PDF) on converting vegetable and algal oils to military jet fuels, Industryweek reports.
The research is backed by an investment of $6.7 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, UOP will develop and commercialize a process to produce Jet Propellant 8 used by U.S. and NATO militaries.
UOP will work with Honeywell Aerospace, Cargill, Arizona State University, Sandia National Laboratories and Southwest Research Institute on the project.
Last year, DARPA awarded The Energy & Environmental Research Center $5 million to develop and demonstrate a new domestic bio-jet fuel with the specifications of JP-8.