Organization
PeakView Environmental Solutions
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
The management of plastic and other hydrocarbon waste is one of the most pressing issues of our civilization. As these often harmful materials break down, they pollute our air, water, and soil. Unsuspecting wildlife often succumbs to this waste due to suffocation, blockage, or entanglement. To alleviate these issues, PeakView Environmental Solutions aims to develop a mobile pyrolysis and oil refining plant that can be shipped to small, underdeveloped islands and areas that have recently been hit by natural disasters and are struggling with the supply of clean drinking water, electricity, and fuel. By utilizing the often abundant organic waste, such as plastic, tires, and plant debris, locals can produce their own biofuel and run power generators for water pumps, filters, and other emergency equipment.
The goal of this project is to develop a functioning oil refining module that can be transported alongside the existing pyrolysis plant. The new module should take the raw pyrolysis oil as input and produce a high-quality diesel-like fuel as output. A significant portion of the project will entail risk analysis, safety implementation, and obtaining authorization—all in a collaborative effort between the university, the student team, and the sponsor.
The project requires chemical knowledge for the refining process, mechanical engineering for the system design, biosystems engineering for the environmental components, and electrical engineering for the sensors and control mechanisms.
Scope: (1) Analyze the pyrolysis oil from the existing prototype and research the process of refining it into a diesel-like fuel on a portable scale. (2) Confirm your understanding with your professors. (3) Verify your system design with the UA staff responsible for overseeing the operation of the plant prototype. (4) Build the mobile oil refinement prototype. Consider off-the-shelf technology first and find customized solutions as needed. (5) Provide chemical, mechanical, and electrical diagrams of the system’s working components and processes. (6) Test the plant for performance, safety, and ease of use, and iterate on previous steps until an optimal design is found. (7) Develop plans (including cost estimates) to turn the system prototype into a compact, turnkey system that can be shipped to a disaster area and operated by a local technician. (8) Present results in a video conference and PowerPoint presentation.