Alternate fuels facility
Alternate fuels facility
Over the next three years, NRC Aerospac will build an Alternate Fuel Facility for Research and Development (AFFORD) to help companies develop technologies for a wide range of alternate fuels, including ethanol, biodiesel,syngas/hydrogen-enriched fuels and coal liquefaction, then take them to market. The facility will allow NRC staff to research, validate, and improve these technologies for use in aviation engines and industrial gas turbine combustion systems. Several companies have already expressed interest, including Pratt& Whitney Canada, Rolls Royce Canada Industrial Gas Turbines, GE Energy, and a variety of smaller energy-related companies.
AFFORD will add two new combustion test cells to NRC Aerospace's existing test facility, plus storage and supply systems for nitrogen, hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a newly recommissioned altitude test facility and a research-scale hydrogen combustion facility. Burners will be installed to treat exhaust gases to ensure they are as clean as possible when released into the environment.
NRC Aerospace is also spearheading a national, multi-university initiative to develop computational fluid dynamics capabilities that can deal with the new combustion processes.
