Week 4

Filter Prototype I

The first filtering system was assembled during this weeks lab. The group has decided to heat the grease prior to adding it to the filter to make sure the grease is less viscous and flows more easily. An apparatus will also be designed to hold the filter and so that the paint filter can be changed after several uses of the filter. A funnel will be attached at the end of the bottle allowing the grease to flow through the paint filter. The bottle contains crystal marbles and rocks as the bulk of the filtering process.

Figure 1. Before and After of the first Filter Prototype

Figure 2. As the grease leaves the bottle, it will enter a funnel in which it will be filtered by a paint filter

 

 

Figure 3.

Figure 4.

Figure 5.

 

Figure 6.

 

Week 3

During week 3, we did more research on biofuel that would both be useful for our own understanding and that would also be helpful for when we produce our final report. The following shows sources that are either direct quotes or paraphrasing:

Science Direct
"Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly alternative liquid fuel that can be used in any diesel engine without modification. Biodiesel started to be widely produced in the early 1990s and since then production has been increasing steadily. Biodiesel can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. Using biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine substantially reduces emissions of unburned hydrocarbons, CO, sulfates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and particulate matter. These reductions increase as the amount of biodiesel blended into diesel fuel increases."
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196890410005157


New York Times
The number of food trucks in Philadelphia is growing. In 2012, the amount of member of the Philadelphia Mobile Food Association has grew by nearly 50% and continues to rise. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/travel/in-philadelphia-food-trucks-are-rolling.html?_r=0

Chewonki
"Biodiesel can be used in all conventional diesel engines. It delivers similar performance and engine durability as petroleum diesel and requires virtually no changes in fuel-handling and delivery systems. It can be used in its pure form or blended in any ratio with petroleum diesel. The blend is particularly advantageous since it means biodiesel can be stored and dispensed wherever petroleum diesel is. A blend of 20% biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel (currently the most common commercial blend, known as B20) is a significantly cleaner fuel than petroleum diesel. It reduces emissions of unburned hydrocarbons by 14%, carbon monoxide by 9%, and particulate matter by 8%. Burning 100% biodiesel, known as B100 or "neat" biodiesel, reduces these emissions by 68, 44, and 40% respectively. Nitrogen oxide emissions may increase slightly with biodiesel, but sulfur emissions, which are major components of acid rain, are essentially eliminated. With this improved air quality, biodiesel is estimated to provide a 90% reduction in cancer risks compared with petroleum diesel. Biodiesel also contributes to fewer greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The respective “closed carbon cycle” (making fuel out of plants, which puts no more CO2 into the atmosphere than is taken back in the plants’ growth process) indicates that B100 releases 78% less CO2into the atmosphere than regular diesel fuel, and B20 16% less."

http://www.chewonki.org/pathways/pathways_biodiesel.aspgclid=CPvk2ZDI6r0CFe9QOgod0DcAJQ

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We also began to ponder which ways we can test the quality of our filtering process prior to creating the biodiesel. We came up with the following methods

1. Visual Inspection
2. Newspaper-Small particles will bend light. If you place a newspaper behind the a container with the grease in it, the grease that is cleaner will be easier to read.
3. Compare Paint Filter Weights-If you compare the weight of a paint filter that was in our system to on that was soaked in clean vegetable oil, we will be able to to tell how much as filtered by the paint filter.
4. Laser Pointer-Similar to newspaper. You shine a laser pointer through the grease container. Smaller dots will have been refracted less and thus have been filtered more. 
5. Keep All Samples and Test Them at the End. 

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Furthermore, the group began to ponder other drying processes. We have come up with two possible process

1. Boil with a stirrer. 
2. Use a hair dryer that connects to the bottom of the grease container. To see at what height the hair dryer would be able to accomplish this, we would need to use Bernoulli's equation:

1/2*p_air*v^2=∆P=p_oil*g*h

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By next week we plan on having our filtering process completed and have started testing. 

Week 2

Week 2 began with doing more research on the pretreatment of feedstock. It appears that using food grease from food trucks has not been thought of yet and if it has, information about it is not readily available. Evidently, one of the first things that will need to be removed from the grease is materials such as crumbs. For this, we will need a filtering process. The group designed a preliminary system and is shown in the figure below. It is a model of a smaller system designed to filter one liter at a time.  The main container will be an upside-down 2-liter soda bottle with the bottom cut off. The bottom of the bottle (now the top) filters bigger things with mesh, then filters smaller things with rocks and finally filters the smaller particles with a paint filter paper. Another idea for filtering the grease is to use a gravy separator that separates the grease based on the varying densities inside. It became apparent after drawing this down on paper that some of the less dense grease will be mixed with the dense grease because of the spout. To solve this, the group could add a door at the bottom of the spout so the grease is able to separate before coming out of the spout.

The design proposal was also created during week 2 and the group met with the lab instructor. During this meeting, we discussed our filtration process and how this is a small scale model that could be made full size. Furthermore, we discussed ideas for the filtering process, such as using other filter paper and whether rocks would dirty the grease. Instead of rocks, glass balls such as marbles may be a better idea. Furthermore, we plan to process the feedstock into biofuel and test the quality of the biofuel. As a control, we will also process feedstock that was not filtered and compare the differences.

Week 1

After learning about the variety of projects offered during the lab section, the group was formed since all four of the group members had a similar interest. Then, the group had to decide on what to focus on for the design project. After some debate, it was decided that the main focus would be on the preparation of feedstock for transesterfication. The group wanted to design a process to prepare waste grease from food trucks for biodiesel production. At this point, the group started setting up the blog for the project and creating the proposal.