Oklahoma Company Helping The Military Go Green

A Green Country company is helping the U.S. military 'go green.' The Department of Defense will buy 500 gallons of synthetic jet fuel from Tulsa-based Syntroleum. The company says the fuel, which

Monday, July 9th 2007, 9:00 pm

By: News On 6

A Green Country company is helping the U.S. military 'go green.' The Department of Defense will buy 500 gallons of synthetic jet fuel from Tulsa-based Syntroleum. The company says the fuel, which is made right here in Oklahoma, greatly reduces emissions and is renewable. The News On 6â€™s Chris Wright reports on the new deal.

"You might say we got the carbon from this fuel from the atmosphere, so it's totally renewable, that's what so exciting about it," Syntroleum CEO Jack Holmes said.

Syntroleum CEO Jack Holmes says this may be the fuel of the future. The company says the synthetic, because of what it is made from, is one of a kind. It starts as animal waste, then through a refining process it eventually ends up as a renewable fuel. It's manufactured in the company's labs, and the Department of Defense now wants to run some tests on it.

Even before the deal with the military, Syntroleum had plans of stepping up production of the fuel. It has partnered with Tyson Foods, and the two companies say they will have a plant that will mass-produce the fuel up and running by 2010.

"The plant that we announced with Tyson will be the first plant in the U.S. to make synthetic fuel out of renewable resources," Holmes said.

The military isn't simply concerned with going green though. It would like to reduce its dependency on foreign oil.

"For security reasons they would like to buy their fuel made in the United States,â€ said Holmes. â€œRelying on fuel from insecure foreign countries is something that makes our government, in particular our military, very nervous."

The Department of Defense also bought a natural gas-based synthetic from Syntroleum last year, successfully testing it on a B-52. The company is confident the military will also be satisfied with the animal-fat-based synthetic, and believes the future of fuel is right here in Tulsa.

Watch the video: Oklahoma Company To Provide Animal-Fat Jet Fuel To Military

Related Story:

6/25/2007 Tyson And Syntroleum To Build Synthetic Fuel Plant