NARA exploring Montana as aviation biofuels corridor

November 26, 2013 |

In Montana, the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance is developing regional aviation biofuel solutions, since the aviation industry is in need of a viable and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. Washington State University’s Integrated Design Experience’s specific role within NARA was to propose a supply chain in the Western Montana Corridor, a region reaching from eastern Washington to western Montana.

Researchers are working with community members to study that area and determine if it has adequate resources, infrastructure, space and local support to run the whole aviation biofuel process. The supply chain is divided into three parts: feedstock collection and transportation to a depot site, conversion to biofuel and co-products, and distribution to market.

Engineering, architecture, landscape architecture and bioregional planning students from WSU and the University of Idaho collaborated to create models and designs for each aspect of the supply chain, as well as an overall atlas of the area.  Sustainability is a major theme for the entire project, and the architecture students applied this concept to their building designs.

Category: Fuels

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