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At that time, a group of students from Purdue University had visited Cameroon and produced what they termed a “basic utility vehicle”—a three-wheeled farm cart built from junked car parts, lumber, sheet metal and piping, yet containing a diesel engine. The vehicle was cheap enough that it could be manufactured at the ACREST site and sold inexpensively to local villagers. Zama’s question to Seay and his group was: “Can you build something that will produce biodiesel for the basic utility vehicles and generators in Cameroon?”

Perhaps that sounds like a minor challenge for a chemical engineering professor and a group of students who were talented enough to compete at a national design competition in Washington D.C., but Zama’s proposal contained unique design requirements.

First, the biodiesel processor could not cost more than $100 in U.S. currency to produce. Essentially, the materials to be used would be similar to those in the basic utility vehicles—junked parts, discarded oil drums and scrap metal. Second, the device could not contain any electronics, a wrinkle that eliminated the normal way engineers make biodiesel—using precise temperature controls, a circulating pump and instrumentation. Third, the group would need to produce the biodiesel from indigenous oils, such as palm and jatropha oil.

Suddenly, Zama’s challenge became a lot more interesting.

Nonetheless, Seay agreed and he and his students began working on a prototype with the intent of reassembling it in Cameroon the following spring.

“For us, it was fundamental engineering,” said Seay. “It was exciting to work on something we knew people were waiting for.”

The team, consisting of Seay and seven undergraduate students, worked throughout the year and eventually settled on a design that incorporated a double-boiler system and a car radiator as a reflux condenser and was fueled by charcoal.  

“It is a lot like melting chocolate, only we used local oils, wood ash and wood alcohol,” said Bradley Butler, one of the mechanical engineering students who helped with the design. “Because we couldn’t use a mechanical pump, we controlled the temperature of the substances so they would interact.”

The group departed on May 7 for Paris en route to Douala, Cameroon. Not a single student on the team had ever traveled internationally prior to the trip; however, concerns about strenuous travel demands and culture shock were tempered by the knowledge that 10 days was not much time to reassemble their prototype, incorporate design changes and train ACREST’s technicians on how to use and reproduce it.

After spending the night in Douala, the team was glad to trade the stifling urban heat for the cool of the mountains. In addition, meals featuring traditional American fare mitigated some of the unfamiliarity that goes with visiting a new country.

“The weather and the food were awesome,” said Seay. “The students enjoyed the village and because there was so much to learn and accomplish, the students didn’t have time to sit around and think of home.”

According to chemical engineering student Christina Willett, the largest cultural difference didn’t come from the kitchens, but the intersections.

“The biggest shock I experienced was the lack of traffic laws. It seemed like everyone was just playing chicken with each other,” she recalled. “And, of course, the fact that very few people spoke English so it was very difficult to communicate.”

Despite being 6,500 miles from Paducah and visiting a different continent for the first time, once in ACREST’s technology center, the team’s engineering instincts took over. While touring the facility, technicians demonstrated one of their recent innovations—a higher efficiency cook stove. Seay said the cooking stove was a game changer.

“When we saw the cook stove, a light bulb went off. We all looked at each other and saw a different way we could design our processor.  It led us to redesign what we originally had in mind.”

Design changes were also needed when the team discovered the palm oil they were planning to use is actually a food source for the locals, used to make a dish called “yellow sauce.” While they were able to use palm oil and successfully convert it to biodiesel, Seay and the students decided it made more economic sense to search for another kind of oil. The solution came in the form of castor oil.

“Castor beans grow wild in that region and no one eats them. They also grow in land that isn’t suitable for farming, so we are looking at obtaining castor oil and working on the chemistry to convert castor oil to biodiesel.”

So how does Seay and his team plan to test the viability of castor oil, given that they left their prototype with ACREST?

“We’re going to have to recreate our prototype right here in Paducah,” Seay grinned. “What we develop has to be able to be manufactured in Cameroon or they won’t be able to use it.”

When asked if future visits to ACREST are in the works, Seay left no doubt.

“We’re definitely planning to go back. We have applied for another People, Prosperity and the Planet grant and will be presenting once again in Washington D.C. where the top groups earn $90,000 in funding. That would give us plenty of options for partnering with ACREST on this project as well as others.”

For now, the team feels good about its accomplishments and the students appreciate the way their education allows them to address some of the world’s greatest challenges.

“I am very proud of the work we accomplished while we were there, and I am going to really miss some of the friends we made while in Bangang,” said Willett.

Zachary Watson agreed and perhaps best summarized the intent and success of the trip.

“The good thing about being an engineer is that when you see a problem, you can do something about it.”

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• David Silverstein, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Paducah Program
• Emily Dotson, Gender and Women’s Studies

Dean Lester also announced that the following individuals were named as finalists for this year’s awards:

• Jeffrey Ashley, Lecturer of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• James Fox, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering
• Andy Dastidar, Teaching Assistant, College of Engineering
• Brian Grabbatin, Teaching Assistant, Chemical and Materials Engineering
• Nicholas Mattei, Teaching Assistant, Computer Science.

But it’s also the stuff of science. A group of local high school students is converting vegetable oil into diesel fuel.

Watch the video to see an experiment that starts where the cooking stops.

Andrea Ramsey with Dr. Jeffrey Seay

Chemical and materials engineering students Luke Richardson from the Paducah campus and Andrea Ramsey from the Lexington campus traveled to Hangzhou, China with Dr. Jeffrey Seay to attend the Second International Symposium of Sustainable Chemical Product and Process Engineering. Both students participated at the conference by presenting posters detailing the results of their undergraduate research projects. Ramsey won the Best Undergraduate Research Award for the student poster competition. Her research, “Development of Multidisciplinary Region Specific Economic Models for Integrated Biorefining” was co-authored with Sumesh Sukumara and supervised by Dr. Jeffrey Seay.

Also, congratulations on a job well done for the ASME student design competition team, Michael Mizell, Chris Conner, Brandon Meeks, and Kelsie Travis. The design team did not win, but did a very nice job in designing and building a device for sorting recyclable items and represented UK-Paducah very well.

Dr. Sara Liu received the Phelps Award, named in memory of Finis Sargent Phelps and Florence Grubbs Phelps that was established at the college in 1991. The purpose of this award is to emphasize quality, promote academic excellence, and reward competence in teaching in the liberal arts and sciences. Dr. Liu, who has a doctorate in aerospace engineering, is a joint faculty member of WKCTC and the University of Kentucky at Paducah campus. Dr. Liu has worked at the college since 2006 and is an assistant professor of physics.

Eight students from the UK Paducah student chapter also attended the conference. Paducah chapter president Luke Richardson competed in the research poster session, and National Executive Student Committee member Rachel Brashear addressed a session of chapter presidents from across the southeast.

For the oral paper competitions, 20 papers were presented by students from the southern region. UK’s Kevin Baldridge won the first place award from his section and the overall second place award. Jenna Shapiro won the first place award from her section and the overall third place award. Chelsie Bottom won the second place award for her section, and Eric Coker won the third place award for his section. For the poster competition, 25 posters were presented with UK again having multiple students recognized for their outstanding research. Specifically, Justin Byarski won the third place award, and Juan Carlos Cordova won the fifth place award.

Kevin Baldridge, Jenna Shapiro, Eric Coker, and Juan Carlos Cordova were all participants in the National Science Foundation’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU) at UK. This ten-week program, funded by the National Science Foundation, provides rising juniors and seniors with the opportunity to work on multidisciplinary research focusing on Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices.

A team of seven chemical engineering students entered their car “Calipari Powered” in the Chem-E-Car competition. They designed a car powered by a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell. In addition to team leader Juan Carlos Cordova, members were Kevin Baldridge, Ben Carpenter, Tuan Ho, Brandon Murray, Christina Russell and Hamzah Saiyed.

UK AIChE student Chapter officers are: Isaac Bennett, President; Juan Carlos Cordova, Vice-President; Alex Heilman, Secretary; Laura Wallace, Treasurer. Dr. J. Zach Hilt is the chapter adviser.

Oral Presentation Details:

• Kevin Baldridge, “Development of oxidant-active polymeric nanoparticles for the regulation of doxorubicin mediated chemotoxicity.” Faculty advisers: Tom Dziubla and Kim Anderson.
• Chelsie Bottom, “RC materials based on nanocomposite sol-gel systems.” Faculty adviser: J. Zach Hilt.
• Eric Coker, “Synthesizing iron and iron oxide nanoparticles in the membrane domain.” Faculty advisers: D.B. Bhattacharyya and J. Zach Hilt.
• Lisa He, “Development of nanocomposite shape memory polymers.” Faculty adviser: J. Zach Hilt
• Alex Heilman, “Investigation of dynamic relaxation properties of poly(methyl methacrylate)/silica nanocomposites.” Faculty adviser: Doug Kalika.
• Jenna Shapiro, “Characterization of PEG-iron oxide hydrogel nanocomposites for combined hyperthermia and chemotherapy treatment of cancer.” Faculty adviser: Kim Anderson and J. Zach Hilt.

Poster Presentation Details:

• Joseph Amundson, “Selectivity among calcium, ferrous, and ferric ions in a polyvinylidene fluoride membrane with polyacrylic acid functionalization.” Faculty adviser: D.B. Bhattacharyya.
• Justin Byarski, “Catalase loaded biodegradable hydrogels for the prevention of bacteria diversification.” Faculty advisers: Tom Dziubla and J. Zach Hilt.
• Juan Carlos Cordova, “Biodegradable poly(beta-amino ester) hydrogels as tissue engineering scaffolds for growth plate regeneration.” Faculty advisers: J. Zach Hilt and Dave Puleo.
• Craig Needham, “Adsorption of simple sugars onto molecularly imprinted silica films.” Faculty adviser: Stephen Rankin.
• Luke Richardson, “Catalyst Optimization for Glycerol Dehydration Chemistry Using Systems Engineering Tools.” Faculty adviser: Jeffrey Seay.