The Next Big Branson Idea: Virgin Fuel
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 07.28.06
Sir Richard Branson has his fingers in all sorts of interesting pies. Some ideas worked out (like Virgin Atlantic Airways -- he's talked about a new fuel for them before) and some fell flat (like Virgin Cola and Virgin Brides), but he's always working on the next big thing, and he thinks he may have found it. With airlines, express trains, and limousine services, his company's contribution to global warming worries him, so along with investing $1 billion in alternative fuels over the next four years, he's also hard at work developing a new kind of fuel which "if we've got it right, it could be a very important breakthrough. We think this fuel will work in cars and trucks and trains within a year. And we're hoping that it might work in commercial jet engines within five years, possibly sooner. So it will be able to work in Virgin Atlantic planes one day." The project will be called (you guessed it) Virgin Fuel, and Branson seems convinced that he's on to something big. No matter how you slice it, a billion dollars for alternative fuel development and the possibility of a new super-fuel is a pretty good thing. ::CNN via ::AutoblogGreen
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Well it will be interesting to see how this fuel works, how it's produced, and what the emissions are.
Soylent Fuel is made from PEOPLE! P E O P L E ! ! !
But seriously, this must be some variation on Biodiesel or coal-processed diesel, no? Cars, trucks, trains. They use diesel. Jets use kerosene-based fuels. Maybe they're hoping in the next five years to modify their recipe to get something closer to kerosene (and won't freeze while in high altitude!).
I wonder if it's Boron.
Its not Boron.
I think its quite interesting. :-)yuk yuk yuk
It could be a development of "Thermal Conversion Process".
According to http://www.changingworldtech.com/what/index.asp
"TCP, mimics the earth’s natural geothermal process by using water, heat and pressure to chemically reform organic and inorganic wastes into specialty chemicals, gases, carbons and fertilizers."
According to Branson in 2005, it's ethanol.
According to
Branson in 2006 it's not ethanol
Aircraft are increasingly using the excess heat from engines (and some electrical equipment) to keep the fuel warm.
As aircraft move to more and more electrical power consumption (The A380 has nearly 1MW of electrical generation capacity) There will be more heat to keep the biodiesel liquid.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I found a site dedicated to news about Virgin Fuels:
Virgin Fuels
Thought you might be interested..
-Myke
We already have a unique and revolutionary process at Ocean Ethanol to produce ethanol, methanol and butanol.
Butanol is the jet fuel of the future, as identified by Bransons team.
See:
http://www.oceanethanol.com
Greg Giese
Ocean Ethanol
Madison, WI
Branson, on the WSJR said he was working on butanol jet fuel.
I am concerned about any new fuel "recipe" a jet would use to transport paying customers at 30-40,000 feet. Will Butanol freeze if it is not extensively heated on-board? What additive will they need to develop to overcome the Butanol freezing problem?
Kerosene has worked well and definitely needs to be replaced with a less harmful fuel but using Butanol certainly sounds risky for a commercial enterprise. Outside of the Bio-fuel groups, the general population hasn't even heard of Butanol. Without public knowledge & acceptance of this new fuel , will these customers fly in Butanol powered planes? Will Butanol be the Holy Grail to high altitude exhaust pollution? I believe it is.
1-Butanol freezes at -90 degrees C, hardly a problem, even in an aircraft
There are problems with bio-diesel freezing, but chemically that is totally different.
The energy content of butanol is higher than ethanol and it separates less readily from petrol or diesel when wet.
The problem is finding an efficient route from biomass to butanol. The person who owns the rights to the right process (most likely a bug) will be able to buy Microsoft from their loose change.
David R. Kelly