Utah student turns crops into biodiesel

9:13 pm | Biology, Chemistry, Utah State University | No comment

Dallas Hanks, 47, of Salt Lake City and a doctoral student of Utah State University created a program from his idea which is called FreeWays to Fuel. A 20-acre crop of safflower plants that grows on an unused municipal land will be collected and the oil from the plants will be processed into biodiesel fuel to operate Salt Lake County vehicles. Having a small scientific research company, Hanks had projected that there are as many as 10 million acres of highway rights of way throughout the nation that could be used the same way. The idea was first suggested to a receptive Utah Department of Transportation a few years ago, then contacted Ralph Whitesides of Utah State’s Department of Plants, Soils & Climate. The program created its first inexpensively effective harvest in 2009 after experimentations harvests in 2007 and 2008. This is an advantage for the farmers since they can easily make their own fuel.

UWRF student presenting at Posters on the Hill

12:24 am | Chemistry, University of Wisconsin | 2 comments

A Physics major at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, Kyle Jero, who is participating in the IceCube project in Antarctica with his abstract “The Oden Ice Breaker Calibration Cruise: Extending the IceTop Array for Solar Study” has been chosen to present at the 2010 Posters on the Hill in Washington, D.C.

Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are emitted during high-energy events in the universe. The IceCube project utilizes a one cubic kilometer volume of ice in Antarctica to explore the universe by means of neutrinos to explore the universe.

Last October 29, 2009, Jero was part of the expedition on the Oden Icebreaker that set sail from Sweden to Antarctica where he monitored the IceTop tanks from McMurdo Station, Antarctica, to Punta Arenas, Chile.

WSU develops Biodiesel from dining center oil

11:04 pm | Chemistry, Washington State University | No comment

A self-sustaining business that turns waste oil into useable biodiesel was developed by a group of mechanical engineering students of Washington State University (WSU). Used or cooking oils that need to be disposed will be bought by the Biodiesel Club from the WSU dining centers.

Aaron Stroup, a club member explains that it is easy to make a biodiesel and it only requires three ingredients to produce it: cooking oil, lye-based drain cleaner and methanol-based antifreeze. It will take 12 hours to process and the biodiesel will sit for about a day to let excess water evaporate. The other byproduct which is glycerin will be disposed by the club. They can make 50 gallons a day, every time they run the machine.

Ethanol/tissue-healing win Purdue competition

10:55 pm | Chemistry, Health, Purdue University | No comment

Two projects that were developed by the two companies that are managed by students received top honors at Purdue University’s annual competition.

Glytrix, led by Joshua Cox, John Paderi, Alyssa Panitch and Kate Stuart developed a platform technology for tissue healing and regeneration that also minimizes scarring.

A biodegradable, cork-like material for flooring, insulation and other uses from the waste and byproducts of ethanol production has been developed and improved by TerraSolutions LLC, headed by brothers Jacob and Matthew Smoker of LaPorte, Ind.

Tel Aviv U. student develop self-cleaning coatings

11:39 pm | Chemistry, Tel Aviv University | No comment

The means and value of materials happening in nature is  an inspiration to researchers . There was information that researchers from Tel Aviv University have cultivated forests of grass like peptides that are water and dust resistant.

Lihi Adler-Abramovich, a graduate student at TAU with a team that is working in the scope of 100 nanometers, which is about one-billionth of a meter have come up with a new method that will regulate peptide molecules. There is a possibility for the method to transform into self-cleaning coatings intended for windows and solar panels.

It also allows you to make your own composition of short peptides as useful as a supercapacitor.

They mistakenly came across the peptide forest when they were doing a project to look for a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.