The new, imposing University of Idaho building in Boise.
The final research and extension center I visited on my trip to southern Idaho last week was the new, gorgeous facility located in downtown Boise. It’s going to take me several days to get through all of the interesting machines I saw and brilliant people I met, so stick with me.
The Boise Center is located just southeast of central downtown Boise. The building itself is imposing; consisting of lots of windows, soaring ceilings, smart paint designs and a ton of research equipment.
The first lab I visited was is managed by Judy Steciak, associate professor of mechanical engineering, whose Energy and Efficiency Research Group (EERG) gets to set off miniature explosions in the laboratory every single day.
Don’t worry, when I say miniature, I mean very, very tiny.
The research group takes new biofuels in very, very small quantities, and ignites it under a very specific set of conditions. By doing this, the group can learn the exact temperature at which new fuels become vaporized. This is important because if it is not hot enough, it will not ignite. However, get the fuel too hot, and it results in large losses and inefficiencies.
In short, the group is looking for the ideal conditions for the combustion of new biofuels. This will help maximize them should a manufacturing company decide to build an engine to use them, or if someone wants to tweak their biodiesel engine to run on something slight different.
Additionally, the research helps determine which of the many, many new fuels (did you know there are 10 types of biodiesel???) is best for moving into the future of greener, cleaner engines.
Tags: Boise, college of engineering, judi steciak, research center