Engineers Without Frontiers Liquid Solar Project End of Semester Report Liquid Solar, Ithaca, NY EWF Liquid Solar Team

Partner Organization Liquid Solar Converts diesel engines to run on vegetable oil – a renewable and environmentally friendly fuel Provides purified waste vegetable oil and other resources for customers Liquid Solar was founded by Seth Mead, a Natural Resources major graduate from Cornell

Outline Project motivation Project objectives Background information Specific task completed Progress that has been made Summary of semester deliverables, demo Plans for future

Problem? U.S. is spending more money on importing oil each year Global oil supply is decreasing at steady rate There are waste vegetable oil produce around US 11 billion liters each year Why not use local waste vegetable oil???

Background Vegetable oil?! Rudolf Diesel’s first diesel engine ran on peanut oil Differences between straight vegetable oil (SVO) and biodiesel Pros and Cons Carbon cycle

Project Objective Design and build an automated switch to make changes between diesel and vegetable oil easier Design infrastructure system to collect, purify and distribute waste vegetable oil Research and test different filtering and pumping devices Study policy and legal issue for greater scale of using waste vegetable oil Convert and test a bus have emission tests done

Project task Research the feasibility for bus conversion Research EPA verification Circuit plan and prototype Survey the amount of oil and availability Filter method and centrifuge

EPA verification 2 different verification –Emission –Durability and performance of SVO on engine Program is mainly for commercial product to verify. Tests are not done by EPA but a private company that charges from $60000 to $10000 for testing emission. Specific test for engine not vehicle.

Bus Feasibility Ithaca School system’s concern about manufacturer warranty for converted buses. Cummins, producer of some Ithaca School’s buses, doesn’t take a firm stance on alternative fuels. Only able to support a fraction of bus fleet Alternative solution: provide individual users instead of school bus.

Circuit plan Problem: dual diesel, vegetable fuelling system, and potential user error microcontroller based system, check input –Ignition –temperature comparator monitor veggie oil tank Output a control signal to switch between diesel and vegetable oil Introduce a time delay when ignition is turned off on vegetable oil

Ignition system Solenoid fuel intake valve Ignition Diesel Vege-oil Engine switch Relay Thermistor

Ignition system Solenoid fuel intake valve Ignition on Diesel Vege-oil Engine switch Relay Thermistor

Ignition system Solenoid fuel intake valve Ignition on Diesel Vege-oil Engine switch Relay Thermistor Temp ok!

Ignition system Solenoid fuel intake valve Ignition off Diesel Vege-oil Engine switch Relay Thermistor

IGNITION COMPARATOR IGNITION RELAY SOLENOI D VALVE OFF ONOFFONOFF ON OFFONON(time delay) OFF

Oil supply infrastructure Liquid solar currently charges $1/gallon Survey results, approx. 700 gallons of waste vegetable oil available per week around Ithaca Average use of 10 gallons/(week * vehicle), hence 50~100 converted cars, maybe even more Single collection body and central filtration and distribution site

Filter and Centrifuge Centrifuge Simulate the forces of washing machine (~200 G) Warm water method –Utilize warm water droplets that are deposited into oil, and droplets sink to the bottom and pick up impurities on the way

Semester Deliverables Successfully put together a working prototype that allows the use of switches and LEDs in simulation. Survey results used for approximation Infrastructure recommendation

Future Plan Add circuit to vehicle and test Further test in filtration system Plan for central distribution system Build a distribution system Possibility for bus fleet conversion (?)