Refueling U.S. Navy vessels, at sea and underway, is a
costly endeavor in terms of logistics, time, fiscal constraints and threats to
national security and sailors at sea.
In Fiscal Year 2011, the U.S. Navy Military Sea Lift
Command, the primary supplier of fuel and oil to the U.S. Navy fleet, delivered
nearly 600 million gallons of fuel to Navy vessels underway, operating 15 fleet
replenishment oilers around the globe.
From Seawater to CO2
Scientists at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory are
developing a process to extract carbon dioxide (CO2) and produce hydrogen gas
(H2) from seawater, subsequently catalytically converting the CO2 and H2 into
jet fuel by a gas-to-liquids process.