Construction of a pilot scale glycol water distillation unit
We are completing the design phase for the construction of a small 100 gallons per hour glycol in water distillation unit similar to the one at College of the Mainland's PTEC program at Texas City, TX (shown above).
The unit will be used for many of the PTEC classes from students drawing P&IDs of the equipment to them actual operating the unit and troubleshooting it. This unit will provide invaluable "hands on" experiences for our students.
Several local industries have donated time and materials for the unit. We expect construction to start in fall, 2006 and the unit to be completed in Winter 2007
Operation of a Biodiesel Production Unit
The Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative (NWETC), a division of the Washington Technology Center (WTC), was awarded a $70,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a one year demonstration project of a process that will provide fuel that will reduce diesel emissions. Matching funds of $280,000 were also raised to support this effort. NWETC procured four bio-diesel processors from BioDiesel Works. Two of these processors will be installed at each of the participating colleges - Bellingham Technical College and British Columbia Institute of Technology. Student employees will be trained to produce the bio-diesel as part of the colleges' educational curricula.
The small biodiesel production units will convert filtered fryer oil from restaurants and food production into a cleaner bio-diesel fuel for commercial utility vehicles. The units will produce 144,000 gallons of bio-diesel fuel for the first year of operation. This will replace 12,000 gallons of on-road diesel fuel each month with cleaner burning bio-diesel, reducing diesel emissions in the process. Replacing sulfur compound containing diesel with bio-diesel is reported to reduce emissions of particulate matter by 31 percent, carbon dioxide emissions by 24 percent, and hydrocarbons by 50 percent.
(Senator Maria Cantwell with Jeff Morris, Director of the Northwest Energy Technology Cooperative)
Puget Sound Energy (Washington) and BC Hydro (British Columbia) will operate utility trucks on the hybrid bio-diesel fuels. Each company will run a fleet of trucks that uses one of three blends of the bio-diesel product: B-5 (5 percent bio-diesel), B-20 (20 percent bio-diesel) or B-100 (100 percent bio-diesel).
Total bio-diesel usage will be 12,000 gallons per month. The utilities will purchase the bio-diesel at the traditional diesel fuel price. Capital costs of producing and delivering the bio-diesel is absorbed by the grant and matching funds.
