Boat Racing!

Last week, we conducted our boat races. I'm proud to say that my partner and I won third place. It was a really fun experience, and it definitely was a relief from the usual lecture/test stress.

A real boat that runs on biodiesel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EggCi3qM2A

Biodiesel Making Pt. 2

On Friday, we found our biodiesel separated into three layers! The top and bottom layers were impurities, and our actual biodiesel was the middle layer. To test if our biodiesel worked, we filled an empty tea light wick with the biodiesel and lit it. Sure enough, the flame was sustained for quite a bit, indicating that our biodiesel worked great!

Biodiesel Making Pt.1

On Thursday, we began the process of making our own biodiesel! First, we took recycled peanut oil and combined it with a mixture of KOH and methanol. Then, we put a flask of this mixture into a hot water bath and boiled it for about 20 minutes. Lastly, we let it cool and settle, upon which it began to seperate into two layers.

Hot water bath

Viscosity test

Separated mixture

Make your own biodiesel at home!: http://www.make-biodiesel.org/

How it's made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLa83KIaEyw

Biodiesel Video

This past week, we've been working on a video project to submit to the National Lung Association biodiesel contest. Our video explained the benefits and debunked myths about biodiesel. We made a stop-motion video which took quite a while as we had to take multiple pictures to create a full-length animated video. However, it was definitely worth it as our final product was really cool! I'm really looking forward to checking out other students' videos. 

http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/technology/biofuels/biodiesel-fuel/

Here's a link!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Ycr7ug7NI

Resources we used:

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/biodiesel.html
http://www.biodiesel.com/biodiesel/benefits/