SWE - Fall 2008 - (Page 44)

power to run a house at night and recharge the battery in a car,” he speculated. As reported in MIT’s July 31 online Technology Review, one of the advantages of Dr. Nocera’s catalyst is its simplicity, which means that researchers can quickly bring it to practical use. According to the Technology Review, Karsten Meyer, a chemistry professor at the Friedrich Alexander University in Germany, states that, for solar power, this is probably the most important single discovery of the century. Flying on animal fat For years, engineers and scientists have researched solutions to the downsides of the diesel internal combustion engine, including its supersensitivity to cold. At North Carolina State University’s Applied Energy Research Laboratory, William Roberts, Ph.D., the lab’s director and professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, heads a team that has developed Centia™, a technology that produces all-weather biofuels. Their research concentrates on low-quality animal fat, a byproduct of meatpacking, which produces more than 1.5 billion gallons of animal fats annually in the United States. “We are designing this process to make biodiesel indistinguishable from petroleum with no modifications to the engines or distribution,” Dr. Roberts said. Using a proprietary catalyst, high temperatures, and pressure, the process produces fuel that is virtually the same as petroleum. His team solves the obstacle of the heat used to produce biodiesel by burning the byproduct of the process — glycerol. Diversified Energy® in Arizona will move this research to the next level. “We are ready to scale it up and build a pseudo pilot plant,” said Jeffrey Hassannia, vice president of business development. “We have the facility to work the process out before going commercial.” Working in conjunction with Diversified Energy, Dr. Roberts continues his research to ramp up production of biodiesel in the next five years from the teaspoons produced now to 20 to 100 million gallons per year. CENTIA In the 1980s and early 1990s, NREL researchers developed the technology to grow microalgae that produce lipids (oils) for processing into biodiesel. NREL hopes to restart studies using specimens from its extensive microalgae culture collection, using new technology to convert the oil to jet fuel. Using a proprietary catalyst, high temperatures, and pressure, the CentiaTM process produces fuel that is virtually the same as petroleum. cal engineering at Carnegie Mellon, are to reduce the environmental impact and optimize the efficiency of coal. The consortium is researching ways to use fossil fuels as the platform for future fuels. “Everyone recognizes the inefficiency in how we use fossil fuels,” Dr. Gellman said. “The key is to get every last bit of energy we can from them but do it in a way that is environmentally sustainable.” Dr. Gellman pointed out that using fossil fuels doesn’t preclude biomass. “You can take biomass sources and mix them with fossil fuels to improve the overall efficiency of the process,” he stated, mentioning a gas power plant in Arizona that is currently experimenting using algae to economically absorb carbon dioxide and concurrently producing biodiesel and starches to make ethanol and protein. “We need to develop ARIZONA PUBLIC SERVICE Fossil fuel revisited Although alternative fuels focus on renewable sources, fossil fuels have a place in the research. Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, and West Virginia University received $26 million to develop technologies to utilize the abundant coal in the United States. The goals of this research, headed by Andrew Gellman, Ph.D., professor of chemi- GreenFuel Technologies, of Cambridge, Mass., has developed a process that uses algae to absorb carbon dioxide from the smokestack emissions of power plants and recycle it into biofuel. GreenFuel has partnered with Arizona Public Service to test the process at the Redhawk power plant near Phoenix. 44 SWE FALL 2008 DOE/NREL,PAUL ROESSLER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SWE - Fall 2008

SWE - Fall 2008 Heritage Club Contents Farewell Message from FY08 President Michelle Tortolani Congratulations SWE Magazine A Conversation with FY09 President Virginia Connolly, P.E. Introducing the FY09 Board of Directors View from the Executive Suite Editor's Page Public Policy Update SWE Retention Study, Part 6 Membership Information & Calendar A&B SWE Member Kristina Johnson First Woman to Receive John Fritz Medal University Labs Fuel a New Era in Energy Women Engineering Leaders in Academe 2008 Opening the Gateways to Engineering Your Collegiate Section History is Waiting to Be Discovered Honoring the Legacy of Ada Pressman, P.E. Report from WEPAN Engineering World Proposed Bylaws Amendments Point of View Correction Career Toolbox Corporate Partnership Council Book Review SWE Smiles In Memory Opportunity Index SWE Scrapbook

SWE - Fall 2008

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