The EERC's NAFL^® builds collaborations with industry to overcome technical, economic, and social barriers to commercial utilization of alternative fuels. NAFL has been working for the past 18 years developing essential technologies to produce economical fuels and chemicals from renewable agricultural resources. Established in 1988 through support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), NAFL is committed to:

• Developing value-added products from agricultural residuals.
• Incorporating waste reduction and recycling technologies with fuel production.
• Optimizing new fuel-processing technologies.
• Formulating clean fuels to achieve emission reductions.

The production of fuels from agricultural products is paramount to the national security of the United States and is a value-added opportunity for North Dakota agriculture producers.

NAFL has leveraged nearly $3.6 million of directed funding into over $7.3 million in projects aimed at the development of ethanol- and biodiesel-blended gasoline and diesel fuels and the determination of fuel use effects on health and the environment. NAFL was instrumental in the first successful development and certification of an environmentally friendly ethanol fuel for use in the aviation industry.

Mission
The NAFL mission is to generate and disseminate unbiased scientific data and information on fuel performance and environmental effects encompassing all fuel life cycle stages from production to utilization.

Technical Expertise
NAFL has established a strong network of technical expertise to advance alternative fuel blending, demonstration, and commercialization. Recent activities have focused on:

• Ethanol-based aviation fuel development, commercialization, and certification.
• Incorporating waste reduction and recycling technologies with fuel production.
• Renewable fuel process development, demonstration, and economic assessment.
• Assessment of fuel use effects on health and the environment.

NAFL Partnerships, Education, and Outreach
NAFL has coordinated activities with more than 40 government, research, and industrial partners. It represents the state of North Dakota in the multinational Governors' Ethanol Coalition (GEC).

NAFL Accomplishments

• Ethanol Production - A continuous fermentation process that utilizes a specially designed suspended-bed air-lift bioreactor (SBAB) was developed. The SBAB process has the potential to significantly reduce the energy requirements of both corn- and lignocellulosic-based ethanol production by enabling increased process water recycle and the use of low-energy membrane pervaporation to replace high-energy distillation for separation of ethanol from fermentation broth.
• Renewable Urea Production - NAFL developed an electrochemical process for producing urea and other nitrogen-based fertilizers. The process will eliminate the use of natural gas as a requirement for fertilizer production by using electricity instead of fossil fuel. This is a major opportunity for extracting value from wind energy without the need for constructing expensive and hard-to-permit electricity transmission infrastructure.
• Pyrolysis Bio-Oils - In partnership with Ensyn Renewables, Inc., NAFL developed an economical process route for converting pyrolysis-derived bio-oil constituents into large-market, high-value, water-soluble polymers for uses in latex paints, pharmaceuticals, surfactants, and other chemical products.
• Aviation-Grade Ethanol - NAFL developed a draft ASTM International specification for the first-ever aviation-grade ethanol (AGE) and presented the specification for initial ASTM review. This response to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) request was developed in collaboration with members of the ASTM Ethanol Aviation Fuel Development Task Force and the University of North Dakota Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences. AGE is an ethanol-based alternative to lead-containing aviation gasoline. Members of the Ethanol Aviation Fuel Task Force include the FAA; major oil companies, including ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil; ethanol producers, including Archer Daniels Midland and Aventine; aircraft manufacturers; and aviation industry groups.
• Fuel Effects on Human Health - In partnership with the American Lung Association of Minnesota (ALAMN) and Flint Hills Resources, NAFL analyzed the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission impact of switching from gasoline to E85, which comprises 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, revealing positive impacts advantageous to human health. These data are being publicized by ALAMN to promote E85 utilization and have contributed to increased Minnesota E85 consumption sixfold in 2005.
• Utilizing Unrefined Seed Oil Feedstocks - NAFL developed and optimized an alternative biodiesel production process to enable the use of unrefined and/or high-free-fatty-acid-content feedstocks that cannot be economically processed via traditional biodiesel production methods. This will translate to a significantly lower-cost biodiesel product.
  • A research project with the U.S. Department of Defense and several other commercial partners is focusing on domestic production of military-grade JP-8 jet fuel from several varieties of vegetable oil. An innovative technology concept that uses catalytic conversion processing will eliminate the need for high-energy processing. The resulting JP-8 fuel will be tested rigorously as a strategic tactical military fuel that can surpass commercial specifications for quality and cost.
  • Soy methylester (SME) was blended into JP-8 at 2%, 10%, and 20% levels and evaluated for performance and emission impacts at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Results were published in the June 2005 Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association. While emissions and performance showed improvement, a higher-quality biobased additive fuel is also being developed using thermal cracking of soybean and canola oil.