Futuristic Technologies Win People, Prosperity and the Planet Awards

"These innovative students from Drexel University not only show technologies for a greener future, but demonstrate the passion and innovative thinking that will lead us there," said Donald Welsh, regional administrator for EPA's mid-Atlantic region.

This national competition, sponsored by EPA's Office of Research and Development, encourages college students to create sustainable solutions to environmental problems through technological innovation.

The solutions must be environmentally friendly, efficiently use natural resources and be economically competitive. The winning schools receive funding up to $75,000 to further develop their designs and implement them in the field or move them to the marketplace.

Drexel students designed and built a reactor that produces biodiesel more efficiently than traditional methods. Currently, production of biodiesel from waste oil and grease is hindered when the free fatty acids in the waste combine with the lye added during production to form soap.

The winning project redesigned the process for producing biodiesel from waste oil to use bubbling alcohol vapors and acid catalysts that avoid soap formation so that biodiesel can be produced more efficiently.

Drexel was one of six universities winning EPA's 2008 People, Prosperity and the Planet awards. Another of the winners also focused on biodiesel technology, and one will produce biodegradable plastic from wastewater, while the remaining three winners all addressed clean water issues.

Loyola University of Chicago students will construct a lab to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil waste from the cafeteria. The lab will act as an educational tool for students as well as the general public, and the fuel that is produced will be used to power inter-campus shuttle buses and other university vehicles.

University of California-Davis students will work to design and construct an efficient means of producing plastic from wastewater. Bacteria used in wastewater treatment processes have been shown to store polyhydroxyalkanoates inside their cell walls, a compound that can be made into a biodegradable plastic. The production process to create it is less polluting than the process to create plastic from petrochemicals.

A University of California-Berkeley student will develop a technology to help Bangladesh reduce the amount of arsenic in drinking water. 60 million Bangladeshis drink water that is contaminated by arsenic at levels well above the standards set by the World Health Organization. The goal is to develop a technology which is affordable and easily deployed in the country.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign students will create a sustainable water development program for rural Nigeria, a country where over 50 percent of the population does not have access to safe drinking water. They seek to help the village of Adu Achi develop a water management program and a distribution system that uses water from the Ajali aquifer. Currently the village depends upon contaminated surface water two miles away. Groundwater from the aquifer is a safer and more dependable option.

University of Iowa students will develop a handheld bleach generator potentially useful for disinfecting drinking water in households of poor communities around the world. The device converts saltwater to bleach with the input of electricity from a battery or hand crank. The project will culminate in the testing of the chlorinator by villagers in Haiti and/or Mexico. The final design will incorporate suggestions from the partner communities.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.