UND center expands work in alternative fuel

A new research facility at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks will allow expanded research on alternative fuels.

The Energy and Environmental Research Center has been working on alternative fuel research for 30 years. Increased demand for biofuels is bringing more research to the center.

Associate Director for Research Mike Holmes says a new $4 million facility opening soon will make room for more research on projects like turning wood or other materials into gas.

"We have a good number of the gasifiers that you can find in the U.S. for pilot scale testing," Holmes says. "So it allows us to do a whole suite of different tests as well as grow our capability to do some of the tests similar to what we have been doing."

Holmes says the center is also working to improve production of hydrogen fuels and to reduce carbon emissions when fuels are burned.

He adds that the Grand Forks center has one of the largest gasification research facilities in the country.

The center does research for companies around the world.