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
The Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance (NARA) will provide a Wood-to Biofuel webinar series that presents recent findings relating to the use of post harvest forest residuals (material left in slash piles) to produce alternative biofuels for jet aircraft and other co-products.
Five webinars are set for the month of October to celebrate National Bioenergy Day on October 21st. Additional seminars will be scheduled and posted within the following months.
Participants may register and learn more at https://nararenewables.org/features/webinar-series
“The …more
Since NARA’s inception in 2011, over 100 graduate students have conducted research for NARA funded by the USDA-NIFA. Their efforts contribute substantially towards NARA goals and play an important role in preparing a trained workforce for a bioenergy-based industry.
Often a student’s dissertation or thesis …more
The NARA TPP provided research opportunities to Native American collage students interested in wood-based renewable energy. This year, two students presented their work at the Intertribal Timber Council, National InTimber Symposium at Coos Bay Oregon.
Cody Sifford, a graduate student at the University of Washington, presented a poster describing how they will …more
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
In 2014, NARA researchers published 25 papers in peer-reviewed journals. These publications help transfer NARA research to a wide audience. Here is a brief narrative to how these peer-reviewed papers complement NARA’s goals and contribute towards evaluating the use of forest residuals as a feedstock to produce chemical products.
NARA goal 1: …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
Here is a challenging class room assignment: map out where you would process slash piles from forest harvest into valuable …more
Fermentation is a biological process that can convert the simple sugars from wood and other cellulosic-based feedstocks into chemical products and represents a key step in the conversion processes evaluated by NARA to convert wood residuals into biojet fuel. Gevo Inc, a NARA member, relies on specialized yeast to …more
The IDX team at Washington State University has been tasked with evaluating the NARA 4-state region (ID, MT, WA, OR) to determine optimal locations for infrastructure to support a wood residual to biojet fuel and co-product supply chain. In the previous webinar, the region was evaluated based on regional assets leading to 35 potentially viable sites. This webinar will continue the previous work by providing …more