This was no kid's cartoon show, nor was it a simple high school science project when six students at East Burke High School set out to make biodiesel for use in school buses.
Science teacher Bob Smith led the Magic Fuel Bus team of juniors and seniors Kelly Triplett, Ethan Hull, Nathan Maltba, Nou Yang, Mucheng Yang and Porter Yang to build a reactor processor to produce biodiesel fuel.
The team received a $1,000 grant from Rutherford EMC to make the fuel through the transesterification, the exchange of an alcohol group into another alcohol, of waste vegetable oil.
Months later, after spending three days a week afterschool on the project, the students presented Friday morning the results and implications of the project to school board members, local biodiesel experts and parents.
Triplett explained biodiesel is made from vegetable oil or waste vegetable oil. The triglycerides in the oil are broken down into glycerin, biodiesel and soap.
The team's first two processors failed, but the current processor, a five-gallon reactor, has produced more than 80 gallons of biodiesel fuel, Triplett said.
Maltba said each batch must go through three tests to ensure the quality of the fuel.
The titration test is performed on waste vegetable oil before it is processed to measure impurities, Maltba said. The test determines the amount of catalyst needed to successfully derive biodiesel.
The methanol test determines if the reaction is complete and the wash test determines the overall quality by measuring the amount of soap produced, Maltba said.
Porter Yang said the team started its trials in October and began testing the fuel in November.
But the team's first successful batch of biodiesel fuel wasn't created until January.
"We were surprised, but excited," Nou Yang said.
With the successful batches of biodiesel, the students set forth to test the fuel in the high school's activity and yellow school buses beginning in February, Smith said.
Nou Yang said the buses, for two weeks each, used a diesel and biodiesel mix of 5 to 15 percent biodiesel.
The biodiesel managed to improve the buses' mileage, created less pollution and there was less friction in the engine, Nou Yang said.
The test results led the students to recommend building a biodiesel manufacturing plant in order for the schools to save money and to comply with a new state law, Mucheng Yang said.
The state law, which went into effect this school year, requires diesel school buses to use at least 2 percent biodiesel, Hull said.
Burke County Public Schools Superintendent David Burleson said the system currently purchases the required amount of biodiesel through their fuel contract.
Burleson said manufacturing biodiesel from waste vegetable oil in the area would not only save the schools money but also helps the environment.
The Magic Fuel Bus team is still preparing a proposal for the Burke County School Board, Smith said.
One issue that needs to be addressed is the source of waste vegetable oil, the students said.
The entire fleet of school buses uses 1,200 gallons of gas per day, Burleson said. While the small-scale project used waste vegetable oil from Granny's Kitchen in Connelly Springs, a larger amount would be needed to fuel the entire fleet.
Nevertheless, Burleson commended the students and their leaders for the hard work on the months-long project.
NC Sen. Jim Jacumin said he was thoroughly impressed with the group.
"I love to work with young people because they don't know you can't do something," Jacumin said.
The relevancy of the team's work is useful not only for the county, but for everyone, Jacumin said.
Porter Yang said the project has increased the team's understanding of chemistry and kinetics.
Through the project, the students were able to perform a project within the confines of a lab and then use it in the "real world," Porter Yang said.
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