Researchers working to see if Northwest wood scrap can be turned into jet fuel say they’ve made good progress in the first year of their $40 million project, but they haven’t figured out how the project would make money.
Dozens of researchers from all over the Northwest gathered in Missoula the past two days for the first conference of the Northwest Advanced Renewables Alliance, a group formed last year to explore the idea of converting the region’s massive reserves of wood into jet fuel.
It might seem far-fetched, but it’s based on the simple science of turning the energy in the wood into chemical compounds that can be used in fuel.
Scientists hope to create long-term, sustainable industry, especially with the demand for airplane fuel expected to grow by a billion gallons in the Northwest alone over the next 20 years.
