JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas -- Two Air Force Civil Engineer Center innovation projects are getting a funding boost through the Chief of Staff for the Air Force and Chief of Space Operations Momentum Fund Fiscal Year 2023 awards.
The projects –a solar powered “Green Latrine” system and a waste oil boiler project – were developed by AFCEC’s Airbase Technologies Branch at Tyndall AFB, Florida, and will receive $150,000 each from the Momentum Fund for continued development.
The Momentum Fund is a combined $5.5 million pot of money designed to accelerate ideas and concepts that support strategic innovation priorities of the Department of the Air Force.
AFCEC, a primary subordinate unit of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, expects to receive the funds before Sept. 30.
Green Latrine System
The Green Latrine System is a containerized latrine system capable of operating exclusively on solar power. There is one Green Latrine system at Tyndall AFB, which includes a sink, a shower and toilet. The system’s design includes roof-mounted photovoltaic 3.4-kilowatt solar panels, a hybrid inverter, and an advanced energy storage system.
“The solar power it generates is enough to run a mini-split heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system and a light-emitting diode lighting system,” said Reza Salavani, AFCEC Energy Program Manager.
Salavani said the self-contained solar-powered system’s ability to operation long-term independent of a power grid or fossil fuels makes it less vulnerable to attack and ideal for use in austere deployed environments.
The $150,000 Momentum Fund award will be used to build another solar-powered Green Latrine facility for further field testing.
Waste Oil Boiler (WOB) System
The idea of processing used oil to generate hot water emerged with the burden of handling hazardous waste oil in remote operating locations.
“Most waste oil must be transported significant distances from remote sites at increasingly prohibitive costs,” Salavani said. “WOB systems reduce or eliminate the need to transport waste oil, and also provide hot water for personal hygiene, cooking, laundry, and larger applications like vehicle wash racks.”
The system reduces waste oil disposal costs at deployed and remote locations, reduces risk to personnel engaged in logistics transport missions, has minimal to no environmental impact, and increases energy resiliency by using waste oil as a secondary fuel source, Salavani said.
“The Department of Defense can end up with hundreds of gallons of used oil in 50-gallon barrels. With no real feasible plan for its disposal, the project is a suitable solution. It saves on fuel consumption, solves disposal issues, and reduces fossil fuel needs in deployed environments,” said Mark Morgan of the AFCEC Innovation and Integration Spark Cell.
The first AFCEC-funded waste oil boiler, located at Tyndall AFB, can generate hot water (140° Fahrenheit) at a rate of 80 gallons per hour. The $150,000 award for this project will be used to purchase another waste oil boiler for further testing in a deployed or remote environment.
For more info on AFIMSC and AFCEC innovations, check out https://www.afimsc.af.mil/Innovation/