1. Solar Assisted Essential Oil Distiller Senior Design Project P15484 Vetiver Abundant grass in Haiti Roots have important purposes: Erosion control Contain essential oils Used in weaving Aggregate in concrete Vetiver will be the primary distillation crop in Haiti. Acknowledgements Sarah Brownell - Guide and Customer Dr. Stevens - Subject Matter Expert Daniel Connell - SolarFlower Project Solar Tracker Part of the SolarFlower open- source project Tracks the sun without electricit y Boiling ethanol turns gears to rotate the main solar collector to face the sun Testing resulted in successful rotation of the trough Next Steps Test in Haiti with input of Haitian farmers Scale-up the system to be a reasonable income source for Haitians Redesign several components for robustness, longevity, and ease-of-use Reduce system cost to be more economical on a production scale Test extraction process on different plants and refine plant preparation process Background Farmers of the Cooperative KGPB in Borgne, Haiti are in need of a new source of income from their agricultural products. An Essential Oil Distiller was identified as a potential soluntion to extract expensive fragrent oils found in many colognes and perfumes. A solar-assisted distiller which relies primarily on sustainable fuels is feasible and economical for rural populations in Haiti. Team Members (Left to right) Benjamin Wolfe - Mechanical Engineer Nathan Johnson - Mechanical Engineer Johnathon Wheaton - Industrial & Systems Engineer Bruno Moraes Quintava - Mechanical Engineer Peter Coutts - Mechanical Engineer Solar Trough Boils 3L of water in 30 minutes using solar energy Optimized parabolic shape Provides 188W of solar energy, or 44% of power required Expected to produce 244W in Haiti, or 57% of the power required 22% efficiency Plant Matter Containe r Pressure sealed chamber which houses vetiver root Steam passes through chamber to extract essential oils from plants Condense r & Drip Feed Condenses steam into a water- oil mixture 50 ft of stainless steel tubing suspended in water Large water reservoir to ensure all day operation Water reservoir also serves as water source feeding into the trough Burner Supplement ary source of heat Provides thermal energy when solar insolation is insufficien t to power system Commercial propane burner set up to be replaced with sustainable methane fuel in the future Separat or Water-oil mixture flows into the bucket from the condenser Essential oils separate from the water and rise to the surface due to a difference in density Water is drained from the bucket and the remaining oil is extracted with a pipette Essential oil is then ready to sell Haiti The availability of intense solar insolation year round makes Haiti an ideal location for solar-assisted projects. A small prototype of the solar collector successfully boiled water in Haiti in 45 minutes over winter break. Borgne, Haiti http://www.vetivernurseries.co.nz/uploads/images/3%20Months%20growth%202.JPG System Energy Flow