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by JAY WAIDE
Intern News Reporter
A team of seven Appalachian State University students received honorable mention this past weekend during the People, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) Competition for their research with algae as a source of alternative energy.
The event was sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The contest, held April 18-20 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., highlighted some of the brightest minds and ideas concerning sustainability. The competition was also part of the National Sustainable Design Expo.
 A team of Appalachian students use algae to produce oil that can be used to make biofuel. Photo by Holt Menzies
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For the team,
headed by industrial technology graduate student Erika R. Porras, the
competition was the fruition of nearly two years of effort.
“The idea came to
out of a class I took in August 2007,” Porras said. “I applied and sent
the proposal in around December 2007, received notification of the
award in April or May 2008 and then actually received the grant in
September 2008.”
Porras’
team received a $10,000 grant for phase one of the competition, which
allowed the team to design and build an alga-cultural facility in
Vilas, where they cultivated chlorella.
Chlorella
is a heartier type of algae that is easy to grow and is able to
withstand a broad range of temperature, senior biology major Zachery
Spivey said.
One of the major benefits of the program is the use of bio waste, or simple landfill waste, to produce biodiesel, Porras said.
“The
major goal of the project was to research and demonstrate how the use
of food waste could be beneficial for alternative energy,” Porras said.
“We used a fast-growing organism to produce an oil that can be used for
biodiesel.”
To do
this, the team constructed an algae photo-bioreactor. They grew the
chlorella in a solar greenhouse with carbon dioxide diverted from bio
waste methane emissions to the algae. This exhibited how problem waste
can be converted into an alternative source of energy, the team said.
The team
first grew the algae in a complicated gyrating system of tubes, vents
and lights, before it was transferred to a smaller pond within the
greenhouse where it could be harvested for the purpose of extracting
oil for biodiesel.
“I think our group of students kind of came together on this project,” Porras said.
Appalachian will be represented next year in the P3 competition.
A
different sustainability idea has already been submitted by another
student and biology staff member, and biology associate professor Mark
E. Venable is continuously working on projects.
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