Washington (Platts)--13Jul2012/324 pm EDT/1924 GMT

The US Navy next week plans to send vessels and aircraft from Hawaii to the Pacific Rim to test the performance of 50/50 biofuel-blended fuel, the Truman National Security Project said Thursday.

The testing, which starts on Tuesday, will run for six weeks, according to a spokesman.

"More than 25,000 American sailors and Marines will embark on the Navy's most ambitious energy plan yet," the Truman National Security Project said in a press release.

The Navy aims to reduce its consumption of energy, decrease its reliance on foreign sources of oil and increase its use of alternative energy.

The testing is part of a larger project, called "Great Green Fleet."

For the test starting next week, the Navy has bought 450,000 gal of 100% biofuel, which will be mixed with oil-based marine diesel or aviation fuel.

The biofuel is made of advanced algae oils and recycled cooking oil.

Naval ships will use 350,000 gal of hydroprocessed, bio-originated diesel blended with an equal amount of marine diesel oil. Naval aircraft will burn 100,000 gal of hydroprocessed renewable jet fuel blended with the same amount of jet fuel.

The biofuel used by the fleet cost $26/gal, compared to about $4/gal for conventional fuel.

The Navy has ramped up funding for home-grown renewable fuels over the past year, making $30 million available last month for companies planning to build or retrofit a commercial-scale biorefinery.

Congressional Republicans have questioned spending on high-priced green fuels and are pushing to ban biofuels purchases in this year's defense policy bills.

US military veterans spoke at a forum hosted by the institute on Thursday to support the military's use of biofuel.

Using biofuel is important to realize independence from fossil fuels, said Stephen Cheney, a former brigadier general in the Marine Corps. The US is dependent on fossil fuels, part of which comes from the Middle East. "The prices are not driven by us, but the international market," he said on the sidelines of the forum.

The purpose of using biofuel is for energy security and to diversify the sources of energy, Dan Nolan, a former colonel in the Army said.

--Atsuko Kawasaki, atsuko_kawasaki@platts.com --Keith Chu, keith_chu@platts.com --Edited by Chloe Cotoulas, chloe_cotoulas@platts.com