Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: A Bio-Diesel Baja Vehicle and Student Competition
EPA Grant Number: SU833158Title: A Bio-Diesel Baja Vehicle and Student Competition
Investigators: McClain, Stephen T. , Peters, Robert W. , Irwin, Christa , Crawford, Jarret , Kingsley, Jeff , Schofield, Josh , Haswell, Joshua
Institution: The University of Alabama at Birmingham
EPA Project Officer: Page, Angela
Phase: I
Project Period: September 30, 2006 through May 30, 2007
Project Amount: $10,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2006) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: P3 Challenge Area - Air Quality , Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
The SAE Mini Baja® competition is an extremely popular design competition for students in engineering programs around the world. The competition focuses on the design of an off-road vehicle for performance and cost-of-production. The objective of the proposed effort was to convert a vehicle created for the SAE Mini Baja® competition to a bio-diesel vehicle. Through the conversion, the rules for a new competition will be created, resembling the SAE Mini Baja®, but focusing on vehicle performance and the production of bio-derived diesel fuels, employing the carbon cycle to produce sustainable automotive propulsion. To capture the student’s fascination with automotive design and racing, the new competition would still employ elements of mechanical design for “off-road” performance. However, the competition winner will be the team that balances performance with the most cost-effective and convenient methods of producing bio-derived fuels to operate the vehicle. The cost of fuel production and the quality of fuel created for the competition will be major aspects of scoring. If awarded, the efforts of Phase II would involve developing a national competition seeking to reach and encourage students from around the nation, and eventually the world, to begin development of sustainable automotive propulsion systems.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
The student group acquired a MiniBaja vehicle that had been raced at the 2005 SAE Mini Baja® West competition. The students were given a choice of fuels and engine modifications and chose to replace the 10-hp gasoline engine with an equivalent 10-hp diesel engine.
The students decided to use a well-documented and tested method for bio-diesel creation. The students manufactured a bio-diesel fuel using pure, unused vegetable oil employing a methyl-ester process. In the methyl-based transesterification process, potassium hydroxide (lye) is mixed with methanol to create potassium methoxide as a catalyst. The potassium methoxide is then mixed with the vegetable oil at 55 C to convert the triglycerides of the vegetable oil into fatty-acid methyl-esters (fuel) suspended in glycerol. The methyl-esters are allowed to separate from the glycerol and are “washed” repeatedly to separate any remaining emulsions from the fuel. While the methyl-ester process is well documented, several iterations were required to create a useable batch of bio-diesel fuel. The primary problems addressed with the bio-refinery included a mislabeled container of lye and temperature non-uniformities caused by the hot plate used during the mixing process. Eventually, bio-diesel yields approaching 80% of the original volume of vegetable oil were obtained.
Several mechanical systems and structures were changed from the 2005 UAB MiniBaja vehicle. Most significantly, the entire rear frame assembly was redesigned and reconstructed to accommodate the diesel engine, which was about twice as large and three times as heavy as the gasoline engine used previously. The frame redesign and construction required substantially more effort than planned. To ensure safety, finite element analyses were performed to verify the redesigned frame would support the increased loading experienced by the vehicle. To further accommodate the increased vehicle mass and engine torque, the front and rear brakes and the transmission system were also redesigned.
Through their efforts, the students also gained a tremendous understanding of the costs and environmental hazards of fuel refining and production. The students prepared a formal report detailing the costs of chemicals and waste disposal required for their bio-diesel production, and before any project work began, the students were required to develop a complete safety and chemical disposal plan. The safety and chemical disposal plan was approved by all required safety officers in the UAB School of Engineering.
Conclusions:
Because of the major size difference in the diesel engine compared to the much smaller gasoline engine, conversion of the Baja vehicle required considerably more effort than expected. While many mechanical aspects of the bio-diesel conversion were far more complicated than expected, the students were successful in creating bio-diesel and in modifying important vehicle systems. The students also gained a substantial understanding of the economical and environmental aspects of alternative fuel generation.
Proposed Phase II Objectives and Strategies:
If Phase II is awarded, a national competition will be initiated requiring student groups to recycle a vehicle that has raced in the SAE Mini Baja competition as an alternative fuel vehicle. For the SAE Mini Baja competition, students are required to design and build a small off-road vehicle for mass production. The premise of the new competition will be to recycle the used competition vehicles to create a fleet of environmentally friendly remote inspection and survey vehicles employing an alternative fuel and fuel production system.
The competition would be a two-day event held at the Talladega Gran Prix Raceway in Munford, AL. The judging aspects of the competition will include (1) total fuel production costs, (2) net pollution and hazardous waste generation, (3) quality of fuel, (4) funding required to retrofit the vehicle, (5) vehicle performance, and (6) vehicle design including characteristics minimizing environmental destruction during off-road usage. The primary vehicle competition event will be an endurance race where the vehicles will be filled with a predetermined volume of fuel and allowed to run until the vehicle consumes all of the fuel while maintaining a minimum speed over the course. The groups’ fuel cost estimate will then be used to determine the vehicle’s and fuel system’s overall economy. Another important competition event will be a “cold start emissions test.” Each vehicle’s emissions will be measured during a cold start and extended idle to determine the vehicles expected annual pollution production. Any pollution generated during the fuel production, such as if a fossil fuel is burned to distill ethanol, would be added to the vehicle’s annual emissions to determine an overall “vehicle-and-fuel-system” annual atmospheric pollution production.
To initiate the competition, funds are requested for equipment such as a calorimeter, a vehicle telemetry for during-race, real-time tracking, and a five-gas exhaust gas analyzer to measure a vehicle’s emissions. Because of the increased initial investment required to compete, related the cost of a diesel engine or the cost of converting a gasoline engine to running ethanol, funds are also requested for dissemination to first-year participants based on first request and availability.
The competition would be a truly multi-disciplinary competition enabling mechanical engineering student groups to interact with and depend on students in chemical, environmental, or biological engineering. Through competing in the 2008 EPA P3, Alternative-Fuel Baja Competition, students would gain a very broad understanding of the environmental consequences of and sustainability issues associated with alternative fuel vehicles. With the proposed publication and outreach activities, the competition will be highly successful in introducing design for sustainability concepts to a large number and broad range of engineering students throughout the world. The competition could also be an educational outreach initiative for the participating universities and could be associated with senior design projects and activities.
Supplemental Keywords:
Biodiesel, Design, Student competition, Baja,, RFA, Scientific Discipline, TREATMENT/CONTROL, Sustainable Industry/Business, POLLUTION PREVENTION, Environmental Chemistry, Sustainable Environment, Energy, Technology, Technology for Sustainable Environment, Environmental Engineering, energy conservation, sustainable development, bioengineering, clean technologies, environmentally friendly transportation fuel, environmental sustainability, alternative fuel vehicles, biodiesel fuel, energy efficiencyRelevant Websites:
http://www.eng.uab.edu/me Exit
http://www.tgprace.com/ Exit
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.