Transporting a low value product like forest residuals from a timber harvest site to a processing facility represents a significant economic and logistical challenge for a wood to biofuel supply chain. One way to ensure that transport costs are as low as possible is to maximize the amount of wood residuals carried per trailer …more
Pretreatment is a procedure used to disrupt the chemical bonds that hold cellulose, lignin and hemicellulose (three structural macromolecules in wood) together. The …more
The US Navy is testing a 50/50 alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel produced by Gevo Inc. for use with their F/A-18 “Hornet” jets. They recently announced their first successful supersonic flight using Gevo’s ATJ fuel derived from isobutanol.
You can read Gevo’s press release here.
Gevo is an affiliated member of NARA. For NARA, they are adapting their ATJ technology to use the simple sugars contained in forest residuals as a feedstock for …more
By: Janna Loeppky, M.F. Candidate, Oregon State University
One of the most important steps in the advancement and continuation of research is
the investment in future generations of researchers. While much of the ideas for research
originate with academic faculty, the work is conducted by graduate students. These students
are contributing to NARA’s goals through groundbreaking studies in their respective fields.
Contributions to original research begin with an area of interest and slowly evolve into a
…more
NARA just wrapped up its 2014 annual meeting held September 15-17th at the Museum of Flight in Seattle WA. This annual gathering provides the over 150 NARA members, drawn from 22 organizations, the NARA …more
Southwest Airlines posted a news release announcing their intent to purchase approximately 3000 gallons of jet fuel per year from Red Rocks Biofuels starting in 2016…more
There are multiple ways to envision a supply chain that uses forest residuals to make a variety of chemical products. One option would have all of the wood residuals transported to …more
Logging utilization studies describe how trees are harvested in commercial operations and account for how the various tree parts are used. This information helps land managers evaluate their logging operations and can reveal utilization trends over time and within various regions.
Logging utilization data is particularly valuable to NARA researchers because it provides a basis used …more
By: Janna Loeppky, M.S. Candidate, Oregon State University
In the forest industry, timber harvesting supplies the demand for one of the world’s most renewable resources: logs. Although the majority of consumers may only know about the final products purchased from mills and lumberyards, the harvesting operation is quite extensive. From stump to mill, the costs for extracting desirable trees to fulfill market demand range in cost depending on the size of the unit being harvested and the amount of …more
By: Janna Loeppky, M.F. Candidate, Oregon State University
Nitrogen is the most abundant atmospheric element and a major nutrient required for plant and tree growth. The vast majority of nitrogen in forest soils and tree biomass is fixed from the atmosphere by soil micro‐organisms. Although the vast majority of nitrogen in most forest ecosystems is held in soil organic matter, some sites contain larger portions in live biomass and may therefore be susceptible to reductions in long‐term site productivity …more