17 November, 2014
Contacts:
Karl Olsen, WSU IDX, kolsen@wsu.edu, 509-335-0373
Tammi Laninga, UI IDX, Laninga@uidaho.edu, 208-885-7117
Charles Burke, WSU NARA, ccburke@nararenewables.org, 509-335-3018
PULLMAN, Wash. – Students at Washington State University have assessed possible sites for biorefineries and other facilities in the Pacific Northwest for processing wood from slash piles into jet fuel and other products. The group will present its findings in a webinar at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Participants may register at http://goo.gl/po9ymD and sign in with the webinar at https://sites.google.com/a/idexstudio.org/class/live.
The students are working with the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA), a WSU-led organization determining the feasibility and sustainability of using forest residuals to produce biojet fuel and other products.
Students met with industry representatives, conducted site tours and reviewed literature to evaluate regional assets in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana that could be used for a wood-to-biofuel supply chain. They identified 35 potential sites.
They will present rankings for a variety of facility types ranging from storage and processing depots to fully integrated biorefineries.
The students are part of a class, Integrated Design Experience (IDX), that includes undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of majors at WSU and the University of Idaho who work together on real-world projects.
These students perform critical data gathering and analyses for the NARA project, said Tammi Laninga, one of three IDX instructors and part of NARA¹s education team. Their work will be incorporated into a final supply-chain analysis.
Last year, students in the course performed a similar site-selection analysis for a region in western Montana, northern Idaho and eastern Washington. Their work can be seen at http://www.nararenewables.org/westernmontanacorridor/.
Learn more about NARA at https://nararenewables.org/. Learn more about IDX at http://idexstudio.org.
Find this news release at WSU News online at http://bit.ly/1xfPwOm