E&EM master’s student Ariel Castillo participated in the International Scholar Laureate Program during the summer of 2006, when he traveled throughout Central and Eastern Europe to study energy resources. During his program, Ariel attended sessions at the OPEC headquarters, where he attended courses such as Oil as a Strategic Commodity and Supply and Demand: Fueling the Global Market of Competition. He also met with a variety of leaders in the energy area, including Ambassador Rodolphe Vallee, the Ambassador of the United States to the Slovak Republic.
Ariel called on his experience in Europe to prepare a research report on the viability of biofuels in Department of Defense (DoD) vehicles. Ariel’s report addressed key technical areas in biofuels. Those biofuels addressed were ethanol, biodiesel, and JP-8 from biomass. He addressed the key differences between corn ethanol and cellulosic ethanol, petroleum diesel from biodiesel, and JP-8 from JP-8 from biomass sources. His report also addressed the current state of DoD vehicles with specific attention to the fuels on which they currently are reliant. The two main focus areas of particular attention in his research were the obstacles to integrate biofuels into DoD vehicles and the obstacles associated with the production of the different biofuels.
Currently, private and public sector vehicles rely heavily on petroleum fuels. Vehicles that run on biofuels exist; however, there are obstacles with incorporating biofuels into our transportation sector. Ariel’s research addresses the viability of biofuels, specifically in DoD vehicles. The paper addresses the obstacles associated with biofuel production, as well as, other technical obstacles associated with biofuels. If biofuels become viable, they will become a sustainable alternative to conventional fossil fuels and important to the future of transportation.
