Titan Energy Development, a biodiesel research firm that works out of NextEnergy in Detroit's TechTown, has won a $1.1 million grant thanks to a 2007 Defense Reauthorization Bill. Titan currently employs five professional researchers and plans to add three more to its staff in early 2007.
Titan is working on the creation of a portable utility provider or "mobile microgrid system" that can be powered by on-site waste. This would have not only military applications but would be useful for disaster relief as well.
The unit, which can be towed by an SUV, can provide heat and cooling, satellite communications, lighting and additional power and water purification. Currently, the machines, called Sentry 5000, run on diesel fuel, but Titan is working to convert the power source to solar cells and synthetic fuels that can be produced from on-site trash, food waste and tires.
Because the cost of transporting fuel to remote locations in time of war is both expensive—some estimates put the cost at $300/gallon—and insecure, the development of this mobile microgrid is quite significant.
The synthetic fuel generation and subsequent power production will be tested at NextEnergy and then moved to Selfridge Air National Guard Base for field testing.
Sources: Jim Croce, NextEnergy; US Rep. Candice Miller; Thomas Black, Titan Energy
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh
Photo courtesy of Titan Energy
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