More than 100 people recently turned out for the opening of a fuel processing facility in Lafayette, Indiana, built to produce a new unleaded high-octane aviation gasoline called 100SF.
Designed as a drop-in replacement for 100LL, the fuel can be safely used in GA piston airplanes, said officials from Swift Fuels LLC, based in the Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette.
The company held a ribbon-cutting ceremony last Friday to unveil fuel blending facility. Swift is investing $2.5 million in the facility, which will be capable of storing 50,000 gallons of avgas for sales and shipment. The plant will process more than 10,000 gallons of 100SF per month when it reaches full capacity.
Chris D’Acosta, CEO of Swift Fuels, said the company’s 100SF aviation gasoline can be used in all general aviation piston engine aircraft worldwide that currently run on leaded avgas. “There are more than 165,000 general aviation aircraft in the United States alone, and they operate on leaded aviation gasoline today because an unleaded high-octane fuel needed to operate aircraft has not been available until now,” he said.
The FAA plans to test a number of potential 100LL replacement fuels next year as part of a plan to phase out the leaded fuel in the United States before the decade is out.
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