Involving Students in Appropriate Technology Projects in the University

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Involving Students in Appropriate Technology
Projects in the University

• Walter L. Bradley, Ph.D.
• Engineering Department
• Baylor University
• Waco, Texas

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Two Kinds of Projects

• Research and Development
• Converting coconuts into diesel fuel, food, and
  cheap housing materials
  
• Peanuts into peanut butter Mali, Africa
• Substitution of cast iron for cast steel
  Africa
  
• Composite housing materials using local fibers
• Deployment
• Micro hydroelectric installations in Papua New
  Guinea
  
• Solar cells and battery in Papua New Guinea

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Different Service-Learning Options

• Research and Development
• Master of Engineering thesis projects
• Junior or Senior Design projects
• Senior research theses
• Deployment
• Two week trips in late May (e.g., to Africa)
• Ten week trips during summer (e.g., to PNG)

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Key -- Have a Partner
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INTRODUCTION

• Coconuts Palms
• Are the most widespread and naturally sustainable
  tropical agricultural crops grown abundantly in
  the South Pacific Islands and parts of Asia.
  
• Can tolerate poor sandy soils with saline water
  and survives frequent cyclones.
  
• Can bear a bunch of fruit each month for about 65
  of their 70 to 80 year life span.
  
• Require minimum maintenance.
• Are and have been way of life for the indigenous
  island people. They call the coconut palm the
  Tree of Life.
  

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MAIN USES OF COCONUTS

• Copra
• This is the dried flesh (the white endosperm) of
  the nut which is the commercial product that
  enters the world trade.
  
• Has an oil content of between 65 and 72.
• Is typically the highest priced vegetable oil on
  the world markets.
  

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Important Diesel Fuel and Vegetable Oil Properties
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IMPORTANT PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF
VEGETABLE OIL

• Specific Energy indication of the fuels energy
  released when it is burned. Coconut oils energy
  (42 MJ/kg) is more or less equivalent to
  Petroleum Diesel.
• Cetane Number (CN) indication of the fuels
  willingness to ignite when it gets compressed.
  Coconut oils CN (60) is the highest.
  
• Viscosity indication of the fuels ability to
  atomize in the injector system. Coconut oils
  viscosity is comparable with other oils but much
  more than petroleum diesel. Higher viscosity will
  cause poor volatilization of the fuel.

• Solidification Point indication of the
  temperature at which the fuel will turn solid.
  Coconut oils solidification point (25C) is at
  room temperature.
• Iodine Value (IV) indication of the ability of
  the fuel to polymerize due to the fuels degree
  of bonds available. Coconut oils IV (10) is the
  lowest among all the fuel so it can be used
  directly in the engines without modification.
• Saponification Value (SV) indication of the
  fuels ability to vaporize and atomize due to the
  fuels carbon chains. Coconut oil has the highest
  SV (268) which will ignite more quickly than
  others.

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Bio-diesel is Environmentally Friendly
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Processing Coconut Oil into Bio-Diesel
Transesterification Process

• Transesterification is the process of reacting
  vegetable oil (triglycerides or coconut oil) with
  an alcohol (methanol) in the presence of a
  catalyst to produce biodiesel (fatty acid esters)
  and glycerol.
• Production Procedures
• 200-ml of methanol per liter of coconut oil
• 3.5-g of Catalyst (Sodium hydroxide NaOH)
• Cost of consumable and energy use in bio-diesel
  production .65/gallon

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Laboratory Biodiesel Production System

• FuelMeister Biodiesel Production System
• Complete System to producing Biodiesel in a
  laboratory or home environment.
  
• System includes
• Polyethylene tanks
• Reactor or Processor
• Premix system or tank
• Pumps
• System pump (Electric)
• Alcohol pump
• Biodiesel
• Barrels or Drums
• Coconut oil
• Methanol
• Final Product - Biodiesel

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Availability of Alcohol in PNG

• Currently PNG Government is negotiating with a
  company to build a methanol plant in PNG.
  
• Ethanol could also be used instead of methanol as
  ethanol is being produced in the sugar refineries
  which are not being utilized.
  
• Catalyst (Lye) is the only product that could
  brought in from overseas.
  

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Chemical Analysis of Coconut Biodiesel

• ASTM tests that need to be done and what they
  will tell us, for example, we need to be sure
  that we dont have unreacted lye that could
  corrode diesel engines , which would mean
  post-processing to meet ASTM specs, increasing
  costs (or deciding ASTM specs are unnecessarily
  high on some points)

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Engine Testing of Coconut Bio-diesel To be done
at TAMU

• Testing the bio-diesel in an engine with a
  dynamometer to determine its performance
  
• To verify that it doesnt gum up engine
• Compare its performance with petroleum Diesel
• Emissions measurements to verify how much cleaner
  it runs than petroleum based diesel fuel

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Implementation Issues

• 19 coconuts / liter of coconut oil ?????
• What to do with huge waste products
• Coconut core might be useful as food
• Coconut shell might be useful for
• Building material
• Fuel for domestic cooking and heat for drying
  copra (currently being used).
  
• High quality charcoal as a feedstock for making
  the activated carbon required for industrial
  chemistry (e.g. activated carbon is used in the
  separation of gold fragments from waste material
  in pulverised gold ore).
• Lubricating paste for rock drills and as the fuel
  component in mosquito cols after the shell has
  been ground to a fine powder.

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Food Value of Coconut Meal

• Coconut Meal or Cake It is the left over after
  the oil has been extracted
  
• Contains about 18-25 protein
• Coconut protein contains a high percentage of
  lysine, cystine, histidine, arginine, methionine
  and other essential amino acids.
  
• Mostly being used for
• Animal feed (piggery, poultry cattle)
• Fertilizers
• Could be used to make cookies

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Economic Analysis of Commercialization

• Cost of equipment per village
• Reactor
• Diesel generator
• Other simple equipment for processing into food
  and housing materials
  
• Economic value and return on investment
• Identify sources of capital investment using a
  micro-investment approach

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Ideal Outcome

• Coconut oil provides a cheap, renewable source of
  bio-diesel fuel to be used in diesel generators
  to provide electricity in remote villages
  
• Core is processed into food for ????
• Shell is processed into cheap, durable housing
  material

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Coconut Tree Tree of Life

• The coastal and the small 600 island people in
  PNG can not live without coconut. Every part of
  coconut palm plays a part in any activities in
  the village.
• It is weaved into the culture of PNG and so it
  is called the tree of life.
  
• This project could truly make this an even
  greater reality.

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Summary

• Service learning can be
• Deployment of existing technology at a particular
  location
  
• Developing new technology and deploying it in a
  country or region by partnering with
  business/entrepreneurship students