Engines and Energy Lab Receives New Caterpillar/Wagner Equipment Donation to Research Renewable Fuel Sources
 |
| Mike Rochford (front left) and John Szentes (back left), from Caterpillar Inc., and Rodney Camper (back right), from Wagner Equipment, present a new Caterpillar engine to Bryan Willson (front right), director of the the Colorado State University Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory. The engine is one of two equipment gifts from Caterpillar-Wagner that CSU researchers will use to study renewable fuel generation. |
Colorado State University's Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory recently received two new engines from Caterpillar Inc. and the company's local equipment dealer, Wagner Equipment of Denver, valued at more than $25,000. Students at the EECL will use the new engines to conduct research that will support a USDA/Department of Energy research initiative to develop a high efficiency biomass power generation system using renewable fuel sources.
The two new diesel engines, a Cat 3126B and 3224, are state-of-the-art pieces of equipment known for their excellent reliability, durability and premium electronics systems. Colorado State researchers will be using the engines to investigate new approaches in making sustainable bio-based industrial products, fuels and power. During the study, both engines will be converted to run on the laboratory's renewable fuels.
"We plan to use the Caterpillar 3126 engine as the centerpiece of a national collaborative bioenergy research project focused on biomass production, handling, processing and manufacturing," Ted Bestor, associate director of the EECL, said. "The EECL's role will be to support the energy conversion and biopower generation aspects of this project. The 3126 engine will be converted for operation with biogas and biodiesel fuels, and tests will be performed to determine the effectiveness of this technology in the generation of useful electrical power. Clearly this will be a technically challenging project that will provide an opportunity for the EECL's graduate and undergraduate engineering students to gain valuable experience."
The Engines Lab will be supporting the Community Power Corporation (CPC), a Denver-area company, with the energy conversion and biopower generation aspects of the research project. The CPC submitted the project proposal to meet the USDA's Biomass Research and Development Initiative's objectives, which include encouraging creative approaches to biomass research and promoting integrated research partnerships among students, educators and members of the engineering industry.
 |
| Wagner Equipment delivers one of the engines to the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in Fort Collins. |
"A few months ago we worked on a proposal for new technology to convert biomass waste into electricity - taking agricultural waste products, such as wood chips, corn and wheat hulls, and feeding them into a chamber heated in an oxygen-starved environment to release gases. This process has been done before but the engines used were very primitive, and we wanted to apply advanced natural gas technology that we had developed in the EECL," Bryan Willson, director of the EECL and professor of mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, said. "We needed an engine to start the research and decided that the Cat 3126B engine would work best for us. I was about to send an e-mail to Caterpillar and Wagner, when I received an e-mail saying that Wagner Equipment would like to donate a 3126 engine. We hope there will be more opportunities for other collaborations with Caterpillar in the future."
In the last two years Caterpillar Inc. has invested over $800 million into engine research worldwide. Through the company's new ACERT technology, Caterpillar has developed a series of evolutionary improvements that use optimal combustion efficiency to produce minimal emissions. The low emission technology provides both short and long-term emissions solutions for the North American trucking, bus, construction and mining industries, and positions Caterpillar to meet future emissions regulations for both on and off-highway engines.
"As a company, we see a very bright future with engine technology and we're making that investment today to have the technology and products for tomorrow," Mike Rochford, Caterpillar's engine district manager for Denver and Phoenix, said. "We really look to Colorado State as one of the leading engine research houses in North America. To strengthen the partnership with the donation of this equipment, together with Wagner, means a lot to us."
Colorado State University is currently heading a Department of Energy academic advisory board to integrate universities' collaboration and establish DOE sponsored university-industry internship programs. The university consortium is working with Caterpillar to set up engine manufacturing education opportunities.
"The research side is only one part of it. The other part is educational. We strive to train students in advanced engine technologies and then help match them with the very best companies and opportunities to apply that technology. It's always easier to match students up with companies that we're working with actively. I hope the relationship with Caterpillar and Wagner will mean that some of our students will start going to Wagner and Caterpillar. They're really at the forefront of technology in the engine area - certainly a place that our students are looking to go," Willson said.
Wagner Equipment Co. has been Colorado's Caterpillar dealer since 1976 and now serves Colorado, New Mexico and western Texas. The company employs more than 750 people at 19 locations throughout the state and is actively involved in the communities where its employees and customers live and work.
To learn more about the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory, visit their website at http://www.engr.colostate.edu/eecl/ or read the EECL spring 2003 newsletter.
Read more about Wagner Equipment and Caterpillar's donation in the press release, "Cat Engines help power Colorado State University research innovation."