WSU-Tri Cities researchers get grant to develop aviation biofuels catalyst

In Washington state, efforts to create an environmentally friendly catalyst that will lower the cost and increase the efficiency in producing bio-based jet fuels has netted Washington State University researchers a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Researchers aim to develop a catalyst from forestry and agricultural waste products to produce nanocrystalline cellulose. These ‘green catalysts’ will be created from wastes such as corn stover, a remnant of corn harvest, or sawdust from Douglas fir trees. With funding from the second grant, the new nano carbon catalyst will further convert the aromatic hydrocarbons researched with the first grant to cycloalkane naphtha, a major component in jet fuels.