May 23, 2012

Engineering Design

Development

WELCOME

Gantt Chart/ Timeline

Alternative to scraping windshields of cars in the mornings of the

winter season.

Store and keep leftovers cool after

lunch

Provide a method to keep lunch at

workplaces safe and away from thieving

hands

Keeping liquids in car cool during travel and

after travel

Provide a way to close windows that are open during rain

causing water to come into home/car

Headphones getting tangled during sleep

The Brainstorming

NARROWED DOWN TO TWO PROBLEMS:

Store and keep leftovers cool after

lunch

Provide a method to keep lunch at

workplaces safe and away from thieving

hands

So as any good engineering project and salesmen, we

decided to ask the students of Norwalk High School what

they wanted in the form of a survey.

EngineeringSurvey.pdf

RESULTS

361 People SurveyedSkip Logic Surveys

DIFFERENT LOOK AT SURVEY:The results we received told us

that not many people were interested so we begin to look at

the survey from another perspective and this is what we

found:

OUR PROBLEM HAD CHANGED DUE TO UNEXPECTED RESULTS

SOON…

WE BEGAN TO CONTEMPLATE THE IDEA OF ALTERNATIVE

ENERGY SOURCES

THE QUESTION BECAME: WHAT IS A READILY

AVAILABLE SUBSTANCE THAT COULD BE USED AS AN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

SOURCE?

ORGANIC WASTE

The Future:Alternative Energy

The food waste found in cafeterias could be processed

using different methods to harvest its potential energy allowing for a solution

to the world’s problem of the depletion of natural resources.

+=

SIMPLE MATH

EXPERIMENT:FOOD COLLECTION

Procedure: Collect trays from students during lunch and separate food waste

from non-organic waste (Bottles, plastic, etc.) for three days and at the

end of each day weigh trash cans full of the separated organic waste to see

what amount had been thrown away

EXPERIMENT RESULTS:

Day 1: 99.7 Lbs.Day 2: 102.3 Lbs.Day 3: 101.1 Lbs.Total: 303.1 Lbs.

THAT’S OVER 18,000 POUNDS OF FOOD IN A SCHOOL YEAR!!

How we proceededWe began to look outside the school for help on our project • Dr. Dong Shik Kim

• Chemical Engineer• PHD• Researcher

Penn State

University of Toledo

YouTube • Bruce E. Logan• Chemical Engineer• PHD• Researcher• Federal Grants

Keego Tech:FuelCellTechnology

DR. DONG SHIK KIM

• Many different contacts in the chemical engineering field

• Dr. Kim jumped on board to help us with our project.

• Series of emails sent back and forth

• Skype conferencing

• Visit to the University of Toledo • Many different approaches to organic waste and turning it into energy

Visit To University of Toledo

December 23, 2011

Nitschke Hall: Location of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Building

Tour of the Laboratory

Variety of new ideas on how to use organic

waste

Anaerobic Digesters• $10,000 • Methane Gas• Blending Food

Drying Process• Cheap, affordable• Burn dried food patties • Blending food

Organic Fuel Cells• Cathode • Anode• Direct Electricity• Microbes

Continued

The Path We Decided To Pursue

• Relatively new technology

• MFC (Microbial Fuel Cells)

• Simple, cost effective

• Efficient, easy to manipulate variables

• Able to operate in our setting

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF MICROBIAL FUEL CELLS

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) converts chemical energy, available in a bio-convertible substrate, directly into electricity

A MFC consists of an anode, a cathode, a proton or cation exchange membrane and an electrical circuit.

Bacteria are very small organisms which can convert a huge variety of organic compounds into CO2, water and energy.

TAKING A LOOK BACK

ACQUIRING A MFC

Appealing to the science teachers of Norwalk High School, we persuaded the teachers to

help convince Mr. Cooley in order to purchase a Microbial Fuel Cell from the

manufacturer, KeegoTech.

Affordable MFC from KeegoTech We made contact with KeegoTech and we got a MFC donated for free.

THE MUDWATT Complete MudWatt MFC:

- MudWatt ANODE- MudWatt CATHODE

- MudWatt VESSEL- MudWatt HACKER

˖ 1 Pair of Nitrile Gloves

HOW THE MUDWATT WORKS• Nutrients in the soil provide the

fuel for the bacteria’s metabolic processes.

• Colonies of bacteria develop on the anode, and transfer electrons to the anode during their metabolic processes.

• Electrons flow through the wire, power the load, then flow into the cathode.

• Oxygen in the cathode combines with protons from the anaerobic reactions in the soil and the electrons to form water.

Soil that has been enriched with nutrients could enhance the performance of a microbial fuel cell. The cafeteria food mixed with the mud should make the

MFC reaction occur faster and better than using regular mud without any food mixed in.

HYPOTHESIS

RED: MudWatt with

Mud

Green: MudWatt with

Food

SETTING UP THE FIRST MUDWATT (MUD)

Mud from a corn field

Mud PH: Basic/Not Acidic

Cookie Dough Consistency

Control Group

No change in material that is needed to make this work

Independent Variable: Mud

Dependent Variable: Power output

Setting up the Second MudWatt (Food)

Cafeteria food: Pizza Stick and Pizza ground up

Some mud from the same corn field

Cookie dough consistency

Food mixed with mud PH: Basic/Not Acidic

Independent Variable: Solid cafeteria food mixed with mud

Dependent Variable: Power output

THE RESULTS (MFC MUD)

Voltage

Dates

THE RESULTS (FOOD)

ERROR ANALYSIS • Undecomposed food waste became the substrate for fungi that was

present in the soil.

• The fungal colonies overtook the MFC and prevented it from functioning properly by starving the cathode of oxygen and by covering the anode, preventing the bacterial colonies from developing.

• If the food was broken down into its simple sugar molecules, the bacteria would be able to metabolize it easier, and the fungi would be less likely to grow in the MFC. • A process such as composting may be useful for breaking food waste

down in to simpler molecules for use in the MFC.

OUR CONCLUSIONDue to the unaccounted fungal growth, the

cafeteria food mixed with the mud did not make the MFC reaction occur faster and better than using

regular mud without any food mixed in.

MFC with Mud MFC with Food

FUTURE ENDEAVORS • With more knowledge and money, we would like to see this project

continued.

• Investigate how to operate microbial fuel cells on a larger scale.

• Study how this technology could be implemented in various situations.

• Study how different species of bacteria could influence fuel cell efficiency

• Conduct more research on which “fuels” work best.

This is a promising technology, and we, along with many other researchers and scientists, hope to see this technology developed in coming years.

Dr. Dong Shik Kim

KeegoTech

Mrs. Deanna Lund

and the Audience

Mr. Adam Leutenegger

TLC and Mr. Lee

Kwik surveys

SPECIAL THANKS

Science Department Teachers

Mr. Brad Cooley

The Conversion to Electricity

The protons flow through the proton or cation exchange membrane to the cathode.At the cathode, an electron acceptor is chemically reduced. Idealy, oxygen is reduced to water. To obtain a sufficient oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) rate a Platina-catalyst has to be used.

The bacteria live in the anode and convert a nutrient-rich substrate into CO2, protons and electrons.

Under aerobic conditions, bacteria use oxygen or nitrate as a final electron acceptor to produce water. However, in the anode of a MFC, no oxygen is present and bacteria need to switch from their natural electron acceptor to an insoluble acceptor, such as the MFC anode.

Due to the ability of bacteria to transfer electrons to an insoluble electron acceptor, we can use a MFC to collect the electrons originating from the microbial metabolism. The electron transfer can occur either via membrane-associated components, soluble electron shuttles or nano-wires.

The electrons then flow through an electrical circuit with a load or a resistor to the cathode. The potential difference (Volt) between the anode and the cathode, together with the flow of electrons (Ampere) results in the generation of electrical power (Watt).