Youth Going Green at UNH
DURHAM, N.H. - Igniting the bright minds of tomorrow with some of the pressing issues of today through interactive personal experiences was one of the objectives for the Seacoast Science Center’s visit to UNH on Friday, June 29. Addison Jones, Jason Miller, Zoe Pugliese, Mathew Robinson, David Sanok, Julia Shannon, and Peter Sheldon, sixth through eighth graders of the Seacoast area are just such examples of tomorrow’s bright minds. While attending their “Go Green” Seacoast Science Center Environmental Day Camp (out of Rye, New Hampshire), these campers made their own biodiesel, after which they brought their sample to the UNH Chemical Engineering High-bay Biodiesel lab for testing. The test at hand was to determine whether or not their solution had been mixed with the proper proportions of ingredients as well as for purity. It was a test in which the campers passed with flying colors.
Participants were shown the process to create golden translucent biodiesel from a black sludge of waste vegetable oil. Impressed as they were converting something like sludge into environmental friendly alternative fuel, little did they know that UNH chemical 
engineering professor Ihab Farag had something more up his sleeve. Walking to the other end of the lab eyes opened wide as a plain looking five-foot high (approximately a six foot diameter) cardboard container was opened. Behind the cardboard revealed bright lights bouncing off of the same aluminum foil you would find in any household kitchen and a clear aquarium-type cylinder. Between the bright lights bouncing off of the aluminum foil and the contents of the so-called round aquarium, our campers were now very intrigued. Within the cylinder was the brightest bubbling green Jello-like goop that you have ever seen. The goop they learned is actually algae, and it was growing!
Growing and converting algae to an alternative fuel source has some clear advantages over biodiesel made primarily from plant oils (soybean, canola, or rapeseed). Professor Farag mentioned that, “It takes an acre of most crops to produce only 100 gallons of biodiesel per year. Estimations show that if we want to produce enough biodiesel for the entire country we would need almost an area of land two and a half to three times the area of Texas. On the other hand, people have projected with microalgae you can grow 5-15 thousand gallons per acre per year, so it’s a big difference.”
Eleven year-old Zoe Pugliese of Hampton said, “Global warming is a big issue and something I want to do something about. By the time I can drive I hope I’m driving a car that is good for the environment. I’m also interested in learning other ways I can help the environment.”
In addition to learning about renewable and environmentally friendly fuel alternatives to petroleum diesel, Zoe and the others in her group visited the UNH Organic Garden as well as learned about “green” buildings. It makes you wonder what their families talked about around the dinner table after spending a stimulating week “going green.” Better yet, it makes you wonder what innovative solutions these minds of tomorrow will come up to make the world a better place.
Caption and high res of above photo:
Behind some cardboard within the UNH Biodiesel lab were bright lights bouncing off aluminum foil and the brightest bubbling green Jello-like goop that you have ever seen . . . and it was growing! The goop was algae. Algae has the potential for becoming the world's future answer to our growing alternative energy questions.
High res of photo
On Friday, June 29, Addison Jones, Jason Miller, Zoe Publiese, Mathew Robinson, David Sanok, Julia Shannon, and Perter Sheldom visited the UNH Chemical Engineering Biodiesel lab with Henry Burke, Youth Program and Camp Coordinator for the seacoast Science Center of Rye, New Hampshire. Standing in front of UNH Morse Hall the group poses with the biodiesel that they helped create.
