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News & Media Unleaded Fuels

Chipping away

Swift Fuels aims to replace leaded avgas

September 1, 2022 By AOPA Publications staff
A small Indiana firm is chipping away at an ambitious goal: completely replacing leaded avgas worldwide in five years. Swift Fuels LLC currently produces UL94, an unleaded avgas suitable for low-compression piston aircraft engines. The company is also testing a higher-octane fuel it calls 100R designed for the entire piston fleet including turbocharged and high-compression engines.
Swift is currently testing its own high-octane unleaded fuel at a test facility that could be safely used in all piston aircraft engines and eventually replace leaded avgas.
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Swift is currently testing its own high-octane unleaded fuel at a test facility that could be safely used in all piston aircraft engines and eventually replace leaded avgas.

Swift currently manufacturers unleaded aviation fuel in Indiana and sells it around the country, but it’s not suitable for all piston aircraft engines.

Swift currently manufacturers unleaded aviation fuel in Indiana and sells it around the country, but it’s not suitable for all piston aircraft engines.
“This little company is tactically solving problems,” said Swift Fuel CEO Chris D’Acosta. “It’s one step at a time.”

Swift Fuels was founded in 2012 to invent and sell an unleaded aviation fuel. In 2015, it introduced UL94, which is basically avgas without lead. The company also sells supplemental type certificates (STCs) that allow owners of FAA-certified airplanes with low-compression engines to use UL94 right away. (Owners of light sport aircraft with approved engines and experimental-category aircraft can use UL94 without an STC.)

AOPA President Mark Baker and Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Jim Coon traveled to Lafayette, Indiana, in June to meet with Swift Fuels leaders and tour their headquarters.

Ongoing tests in an engine lab at Purdue University...

Ongoing tests in an engine lab at Purdue University...
Swift Fuels is pursuing an avgas replacement strategy similar that of General Aviation Modifications Inc., of Oklahoma, which developed, tested, and is seeking broad STCs for its own fuel known as G100UL. Swift Fuels sells UL94 around the country­—particularly in the Midwest­­—and it’s seen a recent uptick in sales in California where a few airports recently banned leaded avgas. Swift Fuels UL94 is only a partial solution to the ban since about one-third of the piston fleet consists of high-compression engines that can’t safely use it.

Meanwhile, Swift Fuels is working with U.S. aircraft engine manufacturers to test an unleaded aviation fuel known as 100R that it says will be a full replacement for leaded avgas. The new 100R is designed so that it can be safely mixed with leaded avgas or used in place of it.

...are meant to determine whether Swift’s new high-octane unleaded fuel is suitable for the entire general aviation fleet.

...are meant to determine whether Swift’s new high-octane unleaded fuel is suitable for the entire general aviation fleet.
Swift Fuels participated for several years in the FAA’s Piston Aircraft Fuel Initiative (PAFI), a detailed technical evaluation, but left the program when the company decided to pursue STC approvals instead. Swift fuels said it’s using PAFI-approved test procedures for its own 100R product.

Swift Fuels expects to start selling 100R in place of its own UL94 in 2023. (All engines that currently use UL94 will be able to use the higher-octane 100R.) The company anticipates fleetwide FAA approval via the STC process for 100R in 2025, but the FAA doesn’t have a timeline for testing or approving unleaded fuel.

“Our goal is to replace leaded avgas in North America in three years,” D’Acosta said.

swiftfuelsavgas.com


AOPA Publications staff
AOPA Publications Staff editors are pilots, flight instructors, and aircraft owners with more than 250 years of combined aviation experience.
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