Exploring Energy Alternatives
Biodiesel Student Research Group makes, promotes renewable fuel
By Thorin Burkhard Horn, 17 and Joseph Short, 14 with contributions
from Ben Brow, 14
and Ben Harris, 11
--
Picture: Marquette Senior High School juniors Zachary Bergman, left
and Anne West test the acidity of biodiesel as part of the Biodiesel
Student Research Group project
According to the Energy Information Administration, about 37 billion
gallons of diesel fuel was used on U.S. highways in 2004. A group of
Marquette Senior High School students would like to see that number
decrease significantly.
The Biodiesel Student Research Group is part of a year-long project
funded by the Michigan State Energy Office. Their goal is to create
awareness and teach people about biofuels, which are renewable and available
on the earth’s surface, as opposed to petroleum fuels, which are not.
About 40 students have been meeting two or three times a week during
lunchtime and after school since January to work on the project. Junior
Laura Petrasky took an interest in the project right away.
“I have always been interested in changes in economics because (the
price of oil) is affecting our country. And I really care about the
environment, and seeing what’s happening to it in global warming, I
wanted to see any possible differences, and biodiesel seemed to have
some effect,” Petrasky said.
Junior Zachary Bergmann says he’s learning a lot from the project.
“I didn’t know a lot about biodiesel before. I thought it was kind
of the same as diesel,” he said. “I’ve been doing research with the
rest of the group and I’ve found out a lot of different things, like
how it’s better for the environment and how overall it just seems like
a much better alternative fuel source. It’s better than diesel or gasoline
for the time being.”
The project grant is administered by Northern Options, a Marquette-based
organization that promotes renewable energy and conservation in the
Upper Peninsula. T. J. Brown, coordinator of the project, is contracted
through Northern Options.
“We’ve been asking the students to look into different aspects of biodiesel
from production to distribution, policy, and different ways that you
can make biodiesel,” Brown said.
The idea for the project came about when Jennifer Silverston, director
of Northern Options, visited a biodiesel production plant in Marquette’s
Sister City, Higashiomi, Japan last spring. Silverston was inspired
to create a biodiesel program in Marquette, and secured the grant from
the Energy Office.
Biodiesel can be made from a variety of sources including soybean plants,
rapeseed oil, canola oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, palm oil, switchgrass
or algae. It has a number of benefits. For instance, the price doesn’t
fluctuate like oil. It is also more environmentally friendly than petrodiesel.
“We have information and the infrastructure to work with farmers and
other companies and businesses to make fuel out of stuff that is readily
renewable on the surface of the earth,” Brown said. “A great part about
biodiesel is you’re not contributing to the carbon dioxide cycle because
the energy that you’re using is already in the cycle.
“They add sulphur to diesel to make it so that diesel engines have
lubrication. So using just two percent of biodiesel, you can completely
eliminate sulphur from diesel, which is one of the main contributors
to smog and air pollution.”
Diesel motors built after 1984 do not require any modifications to
use biodiesel.
In the project, not only do the students learn about the advantages
of biodiesel, they produce the fuel.
In their high school science lab, the students perform many experiments
in the process of making fuel from waste vegetable oil. They begin with
transesterification, the process of creating biodiesel from a triglyceride
molecule and extracting the glycerin. They also perform a hydrometer
experiment, in which they determine the gravity of the fluid, and a
gel point experiment, in which they determine at what temperature different
blends of biodiesel freeze. Of course, safety precautions have to be
taken when working with some of the substances.
“When you’re making biodiesel you have to use some toxic products,”
Brown said. “You’re using sodium hydroxide and methanol, which can both
be extremely harmful if you don’t take precautions. So when we do it,
we make sure we’re in the lab and we have a well-ventilated area and
we wear safety goggles and lab coats, so if anything does spill on us
we’ll be protected. We wear latex gloves so if we get any on our hands
it won’t be on our skin.”
A major component of the project involves running two of the school
district’s buses on part biodiesel. Because the fuel the group makes
doesn’t meet industry standards, certified biodiesel is purchased from
a company in Lower Michigan. Biodiesel is generally mixed with diesel
at different ratios. The research group is using blends of five, 10,
15 and 20 percent biodiesel for the buses.
“It would be great someday if I can park a truck and top off all the
buses with biodiesel,” Brown said. “Any blend of biodiesel that you
use will reduce the pollution, which is beneficial for health reasons
for the kids that are getting on the buses because they’re not inhaling
as much diesel fumes as normal.”
When kids inhale biodiesel, it’s likely to be more appetizing than
diesel.
“It smells like fried food or Thai food,” Petrasky said.
“It’s not a bad smell,” Bergmann said. “It resembles a fish fry.”
Brown is confident that biodiesel can positively impact the U.S. economy.
“We can make it anywhere in our country so we can be dependent on ourselves
and stimulate our economy and provide our own fuel for transportation
and heating so we don’t have to rely on other countries that have mass
quantities of fuel,” Brown said. “I think that the future for biodiesel
in the United States is very promising. A lot of people can benefit
from its use, and it can create a lot of jobs.”
The biodiesel project has broadened Petrasky’s view of alternative
fuels.
“Before I was more focused on concentrating on one type of alternate
energy, and now I realize that no one is the solution, that you have
to put your interest in a lot of different types, such as wind, solar,
biodiesel, etc,” she said.
Petrasky believes there is much the project can achieve.
“What I really think this project is about is just educating people
on different types of energy fuels and getting people to use them,”
she said.
The group plans to take what they’ve learned to other school districts.
“We’re going to try to go to seven or eight schools this fall and present
to them our project, and also hopefully perform some experiments at
other high schools with this,” Brown said.
Bergmann would like to see one particular outcome of the project.
“I’d like to see the project have the school running (all) their buses
on biodiesel, whether it’s completely biodiesel or whatever percent
biodiesel,” he said. “I think that it’s definitely possible that it
would happen.”
