Week 1: Formulating our plan
Our team conjectured that we will focus on determining a method of quantifying biodiesel production after the process of conversion. Upon researching various techniques of conversion, we have successfully determined a low-cost method to create biodiesel, a method in which we will utilize to test our quantification techniques. The compounds to be used are abundant resources and are easily available for testing on campus. After hypothesizing on theoretical techniques that we can apply, we found some trouble in the idea of measuring the efficiency of the product converted. That is, whether to calculate the volume of product versus reactant, or even complex enough to compare viscosity and ignition temperature of synthetic diesel as opposed to fossil fuel based oil.
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Has the group begun the construction of either calorimeter design? If so, which design will most likely be used and why?
ReplyDelete-Group 3
The group has begun basic construction of both calorimeters, and plan on completing both in lab this week. Many components of both designs have been based off of trial and error efforts of the group. The goal of lab this week is to not only construct working calorimeters, but also to improve their designs by testing their effectiveness prior to quantifying the experimental samples of biodiesel.
DeleteThe group plans on experimenting with both designs in order to compare their effectiveness and accuracy of energy quantification. If both prove similarly effective, then other means of comparison (i.e. cost, ease of assembly, etc.) will be taken into consideration before determining the most cost effective and preferable calorimeter design.
-Alexa