Once oil runs out, what will the aircraft industry use as fuel?

Answer 1

Alot of people think bio-diesel will help alleviate our demand for oil, but in reality it will take huge amount of farmland just to satisfy our demand, so here comes Sasol, an oil product from natural gas and coal which we have abundant reserves in north America. It is currently being tested in military aircraft to wean our military forces off foreign fuel and be their primary supply if the middle east cuts off our oil supply. The results are very promising and offer better burning pattern and cleaner emissions. Right now its quite expensive to make but with oil prices going above 70 dollars a barrel it may soon become reality for the general public.

Answer 2

two forms of fuel come to mind as possible future aviation fuel. hydrogen has a very favorable energy to mass ratio, although energy to volume ratio is low. solar power is also a good source because there is always intense sun above the clouds. if both of the sources of energy could be combined in a sort of jet hybrid. possibly a turbine engine with an electrical boost. such a propulsion system would make the most of available resources in their operating environment while emitting nothing but water as exhaust. this type of propulsion depends on a hydrogen economy. however using solar in combination with hydrocarbon may be a good intermediate step which would be much more energy efficient and better for the environment than any current system. also consider that an aircraft body is the perfect shape for capturing solar radiation, the greatest surface area is along the vertical axis. the point is to utilize solar power in order to make air travel more efficient and also better for the environment. oh, and another benefit is no more redeye flights ;-)

Answer 3

Once gasoline is obsolete they will have to go to electric or Hydrogen. Jet engines will become obsolete as we will have to go back to prop driven plains that will be able to burn Hydrogen. I would think by then air travel will be by a small Private plains like ultra lites either electric or powered by hydrogen. You should be able to find something on the subject at the library or online. You can also check with PBS stations online as they have had a few shows about future air travel. Then again as oil is less in demand maybe the cost will become incidental and jets will continue to fly. The cost of oil is down below 60 dollars a barrel already as the demand has decreased. Hope this give you some idea of an answer...Good luck...

Answer 4

Crisco.

The USAF is testing biodiesel as a possible aviation fuel as you read this. Early results look promising. A turbine engine can run on pretty much any flammable liquid. In theory you could run it on a fine powder as well.

Don't give up on good old oil just yet though. Canada has vast reserves of petroleum in oil sands and the US has vast reserves in oil shale. It's expensive to extract but with oil around $60.00 a barrel it's econmically viable to explore these resources. The known reserves in North America alone exceed all the known reserves of conventional crude oil in the world today. A 250 year supply (with reasonable conservation measures that the high costs should ensure with market forces alone) is entirely possible. Plenty of time to perfect Cold Fusion and Flux Capacitors, IMHO.

Answer 5

This is a question that can't really be answered because the technology to replace oil isn't available yet. If something like hydrogen is adapted to replace it, then the planes (and cars) will all have to be redesigned. If there's no replacement before the oil runs out it will bring chaos to the planet. No planes, cars, buses etc. Multi-millions unemployed, it'd be like the stone age. Hopefully the scientists are close to this new fuel technology otherwise God help us!!

Answer 6

My Frend Mr Head says "Oil will never run out, it is being made right now, oil is not a fossil fuel in the way Coal is, it can be and is grown, as Oil Seed Rape for instance so planes can continue to fly, the problem being the land to grow fuel is at present used to feed africans and Chinese and.....get the picture"

Answer 7

the original german jet engines ran on alcohol, unfortunatly the vapor pressure is a bit high and the energy by volume is a bit low (76m btu vs. kerosene at over 100) I'll bet on bio kerosene and tyhe cost of an airline ticket at 5 to 10 times what it is now in 10 years (along with inflation). The cost of an airline ticket in the early '60s was $600 for a trans atlantic seat.

Small aircraft will go bio-JP4, 2 cylce.. perhaps some power gliders will go electric-solar
Av-gas still has lead in it.. LOL

Answer 8

Go back to good old coal, steam powered aircraft IS the future, Britain has 300 years reserve of coal. Actually it's not as daft as it sounds, they tried it during the last war but the technology at the time was not up to it, who knows now?

Answer 9

There are many alternative fuels and engines. Lobbying by the oil giants has meant that they couldn't be put into practice (buying patents etc).

Answer 10

the aircraft industry will use solar energy. they should use it because you do not have to buy it and it never runs out. plus the plane can stay in the sky for a year if needed.