Compact and Mobile Biofuels Production System for Forward Sites

To support tactical fuel requirements at forward bases, biomass wastes from operations, and those locally available, need to be converted into viable military fuels. Conventional approaches cannot produce military type fuels using compact and mobile reactors. Under a Phase I effort, Altex and Pennsylvania State University worked together to show the feasibility of integrating CAMBS non-catalytic and catalytic process steps to produce a JP-8 type fuel from military housing and wood waste at low cost. Furthermore, the process can be packaged to fit in containers for easy deployment to forward bases. The proposed Phase II effort will prove the performance of the CAMBS prototype system to operate on housing and wood waste and generate a JP-8 like fuel. The field unit will have all of the features of a full-scale unit and represent a CAMBS production unit for plant capacities from 5 to 50 tons per day of biomass. Once these prototype tests and a preliminary economic analysis are completed, a conclusion will be reached on the performance and economics of the concept. The Phase II effort provides results that fully demonstrate CAMBS in a well-controlled laboratory environment, where technical risks can be addressed and reduced.