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Creating Biojet Fuel

NARA researcher receives “Wood Award”

Yalan Liu
Yalan Liu

NARA researcher Yalan Liu received the second place 2016 Forest Products Society Wood Award for her work titled, “Evaluating the role of wood ultrastructure change from mechanical treatment for kinetics of monomer sugars and chemicals production”.

The Wood Award recognizes and honors outstanding graduate student research conducted in the field of wood and wood products. Yalan will …more

NARA member receives approval for bio-jet fuel

The Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) congratulates our fuels partner, Gevo, Inc. for ASTM International’s inclusion of Gevo’s alcohol to jet (ATJ) synthetic paraffinic kerosene (ATJ-SPK) into ASTM D7566 (Standard Specification for Aviation Turbine Fuel Containing Synthesized Hydrocarbons). This inclusion makes Gevo’s ATJ-SPK eligible to be used as a blending component, up to 30%, in standard Jet A-1 fuel used by commercial airlines in the United States and in many other countries around the globe.

As previously announced, …more

Sugar yields from two feedstock sources

Pretreated FS-10 post-harvest forest residuals. NARA image.
Pretreated FS-10 post-harvest forest residuals. NARA image.

Pretreatment is the process that breaks up major wood components (lignin and polysaccharides like hemicelluloses and cellulose) so that enzymes can degrade (hydrolyze) the polysaccharides into simple sugars. Effective pretreatment and hydrolysis are necessary to achieve high sugar quality and yield. The sugars derived from the pretreatment/hydrolysis process can …more

Extractives found in post-harvest forest residuals

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When it comes to evaluating an industry that uses post-harvest forest residuals (slash) to make bio-jet fuel and co-products, the primary components in softwoods, like Douglas-fir, receiving the most industrial interest are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The cellulose and hemicellulose contain the simple sugars used to biofuel and other chemical products. The lignin is a byproduct of the fuel conversion process and can be used to make additional products …more

NARA 2015 Annual Meeting

Participants at the 2015 NARA annual meeting held in Spokane , WA
Participants at the 2015 NARA annual meeting held in Spokane , WA

In mid September, NARA conducted its 2015 Annual Meeting in Spokane, WA. This meeting marked the conclusion of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance Project’s fourth year, and the launch of its last year under the contractual terms with the United …more

The benefits of single vs. tandem trailers to haul post harvest forest residuals

Single trailer chip truck loading post-harvest forest residuals
Single trailer chip truck loading post-harvest forest residuals

Using post-harvest forest residuals, or slash, to make biojet fuel and co-products is an economic challenge. A significant cost in the supply chain is transportation associated with hauling the processed slash material to a conversion facility. To supply slash material to a conversion facility or processing depot, trucks …more

Graduate student poster wins 3rd place at international convention

NARA graduate student Jinxue Jiang
NARA graduate student Jinxue Jiang

Jinxue Jiang won 3rd place recognition for his poster at the Society of Wood Science and Technology 2015 International Conference held June 7-12.

Jinxue is a graduate student working towards his doctoral degree in material science and engineering at Washington State University’s Material Science and Engineering Program. His poster titled Multi-Technique Characterization …more