[Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help
my name is james croonenberghs-i'm a senior at guilford college in greensboro, nc who's doing his senior thesis for physics on biodiesel. for my thesis, i'm going to try to find a way to lower the NOx emissions most likely through additives. i have $400 left in my budget with which i need to find a way to test the emissions (i'm thinking about testing them using Gas Chromotograhy but am not sure how to collect the exhaust), convert the car (i've got a '79 mercedes with no hood, seats, or brakes sitting in the basement of our science building) to run on veggie oil, make a processor, buy necessary ingredients for the fuel, and any other stuff that comes up. first question... how do i go about cheaply testing exhaust for NOx as well as CO, CO2, methane... 2) i'm sure there are similar studies happening...do you all know of any? or what additives would be worthwhile looking into? another part of this project that has less to do with physics and more to do with what i actually want to be doing (saving the world) is building a biodiesel processor to make bio that would power the maintance crew's equipment. eventually expanding this into a co-op here where other students would help make the fuel so they could run their cars off of it. so, thoughts on how to set that up? as in, how big a processor am i talking about? is it conceivable? etc, etc. also, where is a good website to lead me through converting the car to run on veggie oil? and make a processor? sorry if these are things y'all have gone over before...but, i've just been on the list for a few days now. thanks for any help you can give me and if you need any clarifications...i'll be happy to give 'em. ~james ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
RE: [Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help
A GC [Gas Chromatograph with a TCD (Thermal Conductivity Detector) and cryogenic-cooling capacity] would be a great way to test for various gas emissions simultaneously but with only $400 in your budget there are several questions outstanding. If you want to go the GC route: Does Guilford College already have a GC? (Also check with other research labs in different departments like the chemistry department) Is the GC already configured for analysis of gases (Usually requires a molecular sieve column and cryogenic cooling capabilities and a TCD detector)? Are there gas standards of the analytes of interest already available at the college to do quantitative work? Does the college already have a supply of liquid nitrogen available for the GC for cryo-cooling? Gas sampling for a GC is usually done with a small sampling pump and gas tight sampling bags. This is how I analyzed high CO/CO2 emissions from Mount Erebus in Antarctica. $400 would probably be eaten up fairly quickly just in sample bags. Science is unfortunately expensive. A new gastight syringe for the GC will probably run you $90. Are there other programs for undergraduate instrumentation at your college? Can they provide additional funds for instrumentation? Other alternatives might be to contact local labs of the EPA. I believe that there is Combustion Group, in the Emissions Standards Division located in Research Triangle Park who might be able to help with procedures, other contacts, and possibly other sources of instrumentation. Try (919) 541-5340. You may also just want to focus only on NOx emissions and there are specific detectors for that with much lower detection limits. Talk with professors in the chemistry department or contacts that you make at the EPA, on what instrumentation is advised, and where you might be able to borrow some instrument time for your project. Good luck! Marc From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 17:12:20 -0500 my name is james croonenberghs-i'm a senior at guilford college in greensboro, nc who's doing his senior thesis for physics on biodiesel. for my thesis, i'm going to try to find a way to lower the NOx emissions most likely through additives. i have $400 left in my budget with which i need to find a way to test the emissions (i'm thinking about testing them using Gas Chromotograhy but am not sure how to collect the exhaust), convert the car (i've got a '79 mercedes with no hood, seats, or brakes sitting in the basement of our science building) to run on veggie oil, make a processor, buy necessary ingredients for the fuel, and any other stuff that comes up. first question... how do i go about cheaply testing exhaust for NOx as well as CO, CO2, methane... 2) i'm sure there are similar studies happening...do you all know of any? or what additives would be worthwhile looking into? another part of this project that has less to do with physics and more to do with what i actually want to be doing (saving the world) is building a biodiesel processor to make bio that would power the maintance crew's equipment. eventually expanding this into a co-op here where other students would help make the fuel so they could run their cars off of it. so, thoughts on how to set that up? as in, how big a processor am i talking about? is it conceivable? etc, etc. also, where is a good website to lead me through converting the car to run on veggie oil? and make a processor? sorry if these are things y'all have gone over before...but, i've just been on the list for a few days now. thanks for any help you can give me and if you need any clarifications...i'll be happy to give 'em. ~james ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
Re: [Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help
James, You might also call any of the local NC Inspections stations (also see if your college has one in the motorpool) and see if they can either loan or let you tow the car in and hook the tailpipe sniffer up. Doubt they will be checking for methane, but the rest are part of the standard emissions check for autos in NC. You can baseline and then test afterwards pretty easily within 10 minutes. --Randall Van Engen Charlotte, NC - Original Message - From: Andrei Cular [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 11:27 AM Subject: Re: [Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help Find your self an engine analyzer with gas bench. You should be able to pick up an old one in working condition for around $100 or find someone that has a portable one they can bring to you. They will give you 02, CO, CO2, NOx, and Hydrocarbons and the calibration kits are very affordable from any large auto parts supply house such as NAPA. -- Andrei Cular Mechanical Engineer Marine Concepts inc. www.marineconcepts.com P:239.283.0800 F:239.283.3332 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Biofuel] biodiesel senior thesis questions and ideas...aka help Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2004 17:12:20 -0500 my name is james croonenberghs-i'm a senior at guilford college in greensboro, nc who's doing his senior thesis for physics on biodiesel. for my thesis, i'm going to try to find a way to lower the NOx emissions most likely through additives. i have $400 left in my budget with which i need to find a way to test the emissions (i'm thinking about testing them using Gas Chromotograhy but am not sure how to collect the exhaust), convert the car (i've got a '79 mercedes with no hood, seats, or brakes sitting in the basement of our science building) to run on veggie oil, make a processor, buy necessary ingredients for the fuel, and any other stuff that comes up. first question... how do i go about cheaply testing exhaust for NOx as well as CO, CO2, methane... 2) i'm sure there are similar studies happening...do you all know of any? or what additives would be worthwhile looking into? another part of this project that has less to do with physics and more to do with what i actually want to be doing (saving the world) is building a biodiesel processor to make bio that would power the maintance crew's equipment. eventually expanding this into a co-op here where other students would help make the fuel so they could run their cars off of it. so, thoughts on how to set that up? as in, how big a processor am i talking about? is it conceivable? etc, etc. also, where is a good website to lead me through converting the car to run on veggie oil? and make a processor? sorry if these are things y'all have gone over before...but, i've just been on the list for a few days now. thanks for any help you can give me and if you need any clarifications...i'll be happy to give 'em. ~james ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ ___ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
