Wayne State University Chem-E-Car“Lil Wayne State”

Citric Acid and Sodium Bicarbonate Pressure ReactionProcess Flow Diagram

Pictures of Vehicle

About the Team

Costs

Calibration Curve

Acknowledgements

Design

Our car runs off the decomposition of citric acid and

sodium bicarbonate to produce carbon dioxide gas under

pressure. Sodium bicarbonate solution is contained in a 1

L reaction vessel labelled as PV1 in our PFD. Citric acid is

introduced into the vessel as a saturated solution which

reacts in the tank to form carbon dioxide gas. Ball valve

(V3) is opened which releases the gas into the power

generation end of the vehicle. Prior to entering the

pneumatic motor the gas is regulated at a set pressure of

60 psi which is the optimal pressure to run the motor.

Chemical Reaction

Citric Acid + Sodium Bicarbonate →

water + carbon dioxide + sodium

citrate

H3C6H5O7(aq) + 3 NaHCO3(aq) →

3 H2O(l) + 3 CO2(g) + Na3C6H5O7(aq)

Limiting reactant: Citric acid

We used the circumference of our

wheel and the gear ratio of our drive

system to calculate how many

revolutions of the motor would be

required to propel the car 50 meters.

We then used the specifications of

our motor to calculate the volume of

gas needed to produce that number

of revolutions. Then, using the ideal

gas law along with stoichiometry, we

calculated the amount of reactants

needed to produce the calculated

volume of gas.

Lil Wayne State is Wayne State University’s first attempt

at a pressurized vehicle, and our second time competing

at the regional conference competition. Our goal is to

strive for excellence while maintaining safety.

Team member: Alex Bokatzian, Kenneth Nash, Zach

Slavov, Michael Marku, Edvin Murtovic, Stephanie Cox,

Matt Lloyd, Matt Melucci, Jay Patel, Malik Johnson, Bilal

Hussein

We would like to thank the support of our advisors Dr.

Howard Matthew and Dr. Jeffrey Potoff.

We also want to thank the financial support of our donors:

Wayne State University’s Department of Chemical

Engineering and the EAGER Initiative at Wayne State

University.

TOTAL: $855.12Body $53.84

Pressure System $417.62

Chemicals $67.05

Drive System $316.61

Safety & Environmental Impact

The small amount of carbon dioxide released by our motor is not harmful to

humans. Our byproducts, unreacted citric acid and unreacted sodium

bicarbonate will remain in our reaction vessel and will be disposed of

properly in chemical waste containers.

In the reaction, the amount of sodium bicarbonate is

held constant in the pressure vessel. The citric acid is

used as the limiting reagent to control the distance

traveled. The data collected for this calibration curve

was collected at a constant flow rate into our Gast motor

as well as volume of liquids into the pressure vessel.