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NARA Cumulative Report (8/11-3/13) is available for viewing

 

Front page of the NARA Cumulative Report
Front page of the NARA Cumulative Report

The NARA Cumulative Report: August 2011-March 2013 is available for viewing here.

This report provides a compilation of progress reports for each aspect of the NARA project covering project inception (8/11) through to March 2013. Progress reports are grouped into one of five project goals: Sustainable Biojet, Value …more

Biofuel curriculum preview from Facing the Future

Fueling Our Future Flyer PDF_Page_1

NARA affiliate organization Facing the Future has developed biofuels centered curriculum designed for middle and high school students. The packet will be available for purchase in October; however, you can preview the materials at http://bit.ly/15JtnpJ (MS) or http://bit.ly/17Cn3VR (HS). A full story on this much awaited product will be provided later in the year.

NARA participates in the Montana Economic Development Summit

Charles Burke meets with Montana Jobs Summit participant
Charles Burke meets with Montana Jobs Summit participant

NARA outreach team members Charles Burke, Peter Kolb and Craig Rawlings met with business and policy leaders at the Montana Economic Development Summit in Butte Montana September 16-17. It was quite an event.

Imagine a city of less than 30,000 citizens hosting a free event …more

Co-product development: lignin-based molecules for commercial epoxies

Based on current estimates, a bone-dry ton of forest residue can be converted to 59 gallons of isobutanol.  What remains is approximately 1450 dry pounds of “waste product”. (Tom Spink presentation at the Idaho Small Log Conference 2013). Approximately 37% of the “waste product” or more technically speaking “co-product residual” is lignin (550 dry pounds) with the remainder being processing acids, unreacted cellulose (polysaccharides), non-fermented sugars, extractives, bark, yeast, and wood ash. The most common commercial use …more

Forest Inventory and Utilization Data

 

PNW_biomass_availability copy

One of the services provided by NARA affiliate, The University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER), is publically available forest industry data. Much of the information they provide and compile contributes to NARA’s efforts to produce supply chain, environmental and economic sustainability analyses, models and GIS applications useful to an emerging wood-based biofuels industry in the Pacific Northwest.  Listed below are two sources …more

Improving simple sugar yields from wood residuals

 

cellulase_enzyme copy
Illustration of cellulase enzyme on cellulose

 

Materials built from simple sugar molecules are the foundation of plant systems. Many plants, like corn, use these sugar-based materials to store energy in the form of starch. We then use these materials for food and increasingly as fuels and chemicals. Simple sugars are also used in structural plant materials that humans …more

NARA Annual Meeting 2013

9/3/2013
Residual wood to jet fuel alliance holds annual meeting in Oregon
Contacts:

Ralph Cavalieri, NARA Project Executive Director, cavalieri@wsu.edu
Mike Wolcott, NARA Co-Project Director, wolcott@wsu.edu
Charles Burke, NARA Communications and Publicity Director, ccburke@wsu.edu

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers, educators, economists and business leaders will gather here in early September to discuss progress made and future challenges to the development of a residual woody biomass to jet fuel and valuable co-products industry in the Pacific Northwest.
…more