APRIL 9, 2009 ISSUE
Developing a Sustainable World
ASU Students Show How Algae and Coffee Can Change the World April 16
On Thursday, April 16, two teams from ASU competing in the Environmental Protection Agency’s P3 Competition for Sustainability in Washington, D.C. will present their projects. These two presentations, also known as the EPA-Funded Biofuels Research Presentations, are part of the ongoing Earth Month 2009 festivities at ASU.
The two teams will present their work from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. in the Linville Falls Room of the ASU Plemmons Student Union. Admission is free.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosts the P3 competition on an annual basis. The acronym stands for People, Prosperity and the Planet and the competition awards grants to university students who have designed and built sustainable technologies.
According to their website, www.epa.gov/p3, the grant award process breaks down into two phases. Phase I awards grants of $10,000 at the beginning of the academic year to teams with the best designs. After Phase I, selected teams use the grant money to construct their designs, which will then be judged in Phase II that takes place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on April 18 to 20. Winning teams are awarded $75,000 to help further develop their designs and move them from the realm of idea and into the marketplace.
Both teams presenting next Thursday have made it past Phase I of the competition along with 40 other teams from schools from all over the United States. One team, headed by Erica Porras, has devoted their efforts to the study of algae.
“Algae has been an area of interest because it is fast growing and contains up to 50 percent of its dry weight in oils,” said Porras, “and those oils can be extracted to produce biodiesel.”
Using the grant money already awarded, Porras and her team have developed a working prototype of their design.
The other team at the presentation next Thursday is headed by Susan Winston and will discuss its work in turning coffee processing water from coffee plants in Nicaragua into ethanol, a sustainable fuel that, in the United States, is largely based on corn. Winston and her teammates hope to change that perspective.
ASU Adjunct Professor Jeremy Farrell served as a principal investigator for the coffee to ethanol team and will be traveling to D.C. with the students.
“Thursday is really kind of a warm up to the main event for these teams,” he said, “but we sure are excited and eager to share our work with others.”
Want To Go?
Date: April 16
Time: 5:00 to 6:30 p.m.
Location: The Linville Falls Room of the Plemmons Student Union
Cost: Free
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