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Hoosier Biodiesel Company of Evansville, Ind., has agreed to continue sponsoring undergraduate research in biofuels this summer at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. The project is being led by Michael Mueller, head of the college's Department of Chemistry.
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Engine Testing: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology students Matt Colchin, Chad Whitaker and Doug Hale examine two-cycle engines that were used in biofuels research testing last summer on campus.
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Mechanical engineering majors Matt Colchin and Doug Hale, and chemical engineering majors Ben Collins and Liz Malola will work on a number of projects, including making fuel mixes of ethanol/biodiesel and butanol/biodiesel for spark ignition engines.
Butanol holds promise as a future replacement to ethanol because it can be made from cellulose-based biomass and has a heat value similar to gasoline.
The research team will also investigate electrolyzing water to produce hydrogen as an augment fuel to run a spark ignition engine, according to Mueller. Another project includes examining new processes for making biodiesel and glycerin from a variety of fats.
Last summer, a team of chemistry, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering students examined the possibility of developing bio-based fuels that could improve fuel economy and lubricity while also reducing damage to engine parts. Aspects of the project focused on developing a bio-based oil to be mixed with gasoline for spark ignition two-cycle engines (23 cc Poulan WeedEater leaf blower); developing an ethanol-based fuel for spark ignition automobile engines (Chevrolet 305 CW V8) that would not contain any gasoline; examining ways to produce salt-free biodiesel fuels; and studying the surface interactions of bio-oils and engine materials.
The 2007 project, sponsored by Hoosier Biodiesel, was led by Mueller and supervised by mechanical engineering professors Patrick Cunningham and Allen White. Research results were the basis of a paper that will be presented by Mueller and Collins at the Society of Automotive Engineers’ International Meeting in June at Shanghai, China.
Hoosier Biodiesel Company is a subsidiary of Imperial Petroleum, Inc. |
