Aircraft Carrier Transits on Alternative Fuel Blend

USS Ford (FFG 54) successfully transited from the ship's homeport in Everett, Wash., to San Diego, March 2, using 25,000 gallons of a 50/50 algae-derived, hydro-processed algal oil and petroleum F-76 blend in the ships LM 2500 gas turbines.

USS Ford's transit on the algal blend marks the first demonstration of the alternative fuel blend in an operational fleet ship.

"We've done basically every range of research vessel we could test: the experimental riverine command boat; the Naval Academy's yard patrol; a landing craft utility, a landing craft air cushion amphibious, and self defense test ship," said Richard Leung, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) Navy Fuels engineering manager. "Each test has brought us a little closer to the upcoming Green Strike Group demonstration set for later this year."

Meeting the secretary of the Navy's call for a drop-in fuel replacement, no changes were required to the infrastructure of the ship or fueling pier for the test. The blended fuel was stationed on a barge in Puget Sound off Bremerton, Wash., and immediately available to the Ford for testing.

"We didn't embark any personnel or instrumentation for the transit because we wanted to minimize impact to the ship's normal operations and because we weren't conducting the same quantitative tests and analysis we've done previously," said Leung. "Instead, we provided the ship's engineers a list of fuel and engine performance system questions and parameters, so they could provide feedback on how the ship performed using the blend as compared to its typical fuel."

The ship burned all 25,000 gallons during the transit, and according to Leung, feedback from the ship's engineers was favorable.

"The crew reported no change in their typical procedures when receiving, handling, or processing the biofuel, and said operational performance of the fuel system and gas turbine engines on the blend was almost identical to operations on traditional F-76," said Leung.

"Having feedback from the Ford's engineers is extremely useful as we move forward with validating the algal oil blend, and as we prepare for the upcoming Green Strike Group demonstration later this year," said Greg Toms, NAVSEA technical warrant holder for Fuels and Lubricants. "We'll again be limited on the data we can collect during that event and will ask similar questions to continue measuring operational user feedback."

NAVSEA's alternative fuels efforts help the Navy increase energy security, safeguard the environment, and support the secretary of the Navy's goals to demonstrate a green strike group by 2012, deploy the "Great Green Fleet" in 2016, and obtain 50 percent of the Fleet's liquid fuel from alternative sources by 2020.