Alternative-Fuel Cars Engineered For Show And To Go

A team of chemical engineering students from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, took top honors at the annual Chem-E-Car competition on Nov. 12. The competition, a public event sponsored by food company General Mills, kicked off the start of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting and student conference, which was held in San Francisco this week.

The team's entry, a school bus design nicknamed Coki after a frog native to Puerto Rico, is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. It outperformed the entries of 30 other university teams as some 600 screaming spectators looked on.

The Chem-E-Car competition was created in 1999 as a fun and practical way for students to engage in a team-oriented hands-on design project and apply their knowledge of chemical engineering principles in figuring out new ways to power a shoebox-size model vehicle. Teams qualify for the national competition by winning or placing in competitions held during spring regional meetings.

In San Francisco, the teams first displayed their entries and presented posters to explain the chemical reaction used to power their vehicles as well as environmental and safety features of the designs. But the highlight of the competition was the testing phase.

The competition heated up one hour before the testing phase, when students and their faculty advisers were provided the final details of exactly how far their vehicles must travel and stop while carrying a specified amount of water. In this year's event, the students were challenged to transport 10 mL of water 75 feet.

The teams then flew into action to make calculations and adjustments to their designs in order to have their vehicles meet those objectives. The teams had two chances to drive their vehicles as close as possible to the finish line. The cars are not allowed to be controlled remotely or be given any mechanical or physical assistance to start, nor may they be equipped with brakes or a timing device to stop. The cost of the vehicle and its fuel must not exceed $1,500.

The winners from Puerto Rico, who wore matching team racing shirts at the AIChE meeting, are celebrating with a prize of $2,000, a trophy, and bragging rights. Finishing second place and receiving a $1,000 prize and trophy was a team from the University of Dayton, Ohio. Third place went to a team from the University of Maine, Orono, which received $500 and a trophy. The second and third place teams also used hydrogen fuel cells.

Interesting and innovative chemical reactions are used to power the cars each year. The 2005 winner, a team from Tennessee Technological University, used a zinc-air fuel cell. In this year's competition, chemical reactions as basic as vinegar and baking soda or beef liver and hydrogen peroxide were used in addition to the more complicated and better performing handmade hydrogen fuel cells.

"The Chem-E-Car competition is always a highlight of the AIChE annual meeting for me," noted John C. Chen, AIChE president and a chemical engineering professor at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. "With each year's competition, there is more creativity from our student members."