Team Sky High designed an affordable, fully autonomous, solar-powered UAV capable of one month flight time at an altitude of 10,000 feet or higher. The UAV boasts a 40-megapixel camera and a communications bandwidth of 256 kilobits per second or greater, plus GPS tracking and telemetry capabilities.

The full-scale model has a wingspan of 12 meters and a chord length of 0.5 meters, with an overall mass estimate of 50 kg. The prototype scale is 25% of the full-scale model with a mass of approximately 12.5 kg. Flying at a speed of 13 meters per second, the UAV can complete 15 orbits of a 500-meter radius circle of operation in one hour.

The design team developed a remote-controlled airplane for the 2022 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Design/Build/Fly competition. The competition consists of three humanitarian missions to deliver vaccine vials and care packages to remote locations with unfavorable terrain. The team designed and optimized their aircraft to perform short takeoffs and landings with large payloads. This was accomplished using general engineering principles and the latest software available.

The airplane features a tapered wing mounted in a high-wing configuration that accommodates a single motor on the nose along with a payload dropping mechanism strategically placed at the center of gravity to maximize stability and control. Many iterations were performed to improve the model through analysis, prototyping and flight testing.

The rover design is equipped with sensors and cameras that allow it to create 3D maps of the lunar surface, take pictures of the regolith and record solar radiation data.

The design uses a Raspberry Pi to store data and manage the onboard instruments. The robot has four legs to navigate the steep and rugged terrain. The tail is a linear actuator that can extend and retract to act as a fifth point of contact for the rover or change the robot’s center of gravity. The tail has an additional two motors that allow it to adjust its orientation. The arm has five motors that are used to maneuver equipment and any objects that block the robot’s path.

The team produced a prototype from 3D-printed components and easily obtainable electronics. This model tested the robot’s ability to walk, balance and navigate difficult terrain.

Removing sulfur from fossil fuels is necessary before being sold for on-road usage. When sulfur makes its way into the final fuel product, it turns into sulfur dioxide after combustion and releases into the atmosphere. This leads to environmental effects such as acid rain, haze and potential respiratory issues in humans and animals. Additionally, sulfur in diesel fuel can ruin the effectiveness of catalytic converters.

The team designed a catalytic hydro-desulfurization unit that processes 30,000 barrels per stream day of a blended straight run gas oil and light cycle oil feed. This produces an on-road diesel fuel that has a maximum sulfur content of 0.005% by weight, meeting necessary diesel fuel oil standards.

The hydrogen sulfide generated is converted to elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid and then sold. Elemental sulfur is vital in the fertilizer industry and agricultural processes. And sulfuric acid is used by many large-scale manufacturing plants.

As the United States moves toward cleaner energy while facing growing energy demands, natural gas is growing in popularity. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is easily transportable by tanker and can travel to places where pipelines cannot. This team designed an LNG receiving terminal in Massachusetts.

The terminal receives regular tanker shipments of LNG into a pair of large full-containment cryogenic storage tanks. These tanks have a secondary containment chamber to prevent leaks and spills, while maintaining the very low operating temperature. Boil-off gas from the tanks is compressed and used to fuel the vaporizing system. The re-gasification system uses a submerged combustion vaporizer which is heated by burning a small fraction of the facility’s natural gas. The gaseous natural gas is then sent to the pipeline for distribution. The terminal is designed to have an adjustable send-out rate to account for seasonal demand changes.

A gasoline refinery in the Gulf Coast area produces 130,000 barrels per stream day of regular 87 octane and 93 premium grades. It originally used a methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) system as its means of alkylation. However, the use of MTBE has been phased out in the United States due to its damaging effects to the environment.

The team designed a replacement unit with a solid-acid catalyst as the means of alkylation. Solid phosphoric acid is used because it is the least harmful for the environment and handling. This technology achieved the high octane yield necessary for gasoline production. Current market behavior analysis was incorporated to maximize profit by selectively choosing the amount of each grade to produce. The design uses distillation towers for separation, heat exchangers to achieve operating conditions, and pumps to deliver material at desired rates. Simulation tools were used to quantify the process based on its thermodynamic and mass transfer properties.

Wastewater treatment is becoming an increasingly important field with population growth, drought and the looming effects of climate change. Due to these emerging issues, it is imperative to treat our water effectively, in order to reduce our reliance on natural sources.

The team used traditional elements of wastewater treatment, along with creative design, to effectively clean the water. Due to the high number of farms and golf courses in the Cave Creek area, it was also important to cater to these interests of the community. The design of the treatment plant, which adheres to the state of Arizona’s quality standards, was done primarily with Biowin and Microsoft Visio software.

Natural gas is primarily methane, a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the environment. The team designed a process to synthesize natural gas into the useful – and much less harmful – substance, methanol. This is created via the bi-reforming of methane followed by a Fisher-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The process could be applied at any landfill or livestock area producing methane. More in-depth analysis was done for large-scale production in partnership with a local fueling station in Fort Worth, Texas.

The process uses steam methane reformation and dry methane reformation processes running in parallel, with their respective product streams merged before being sent to the Fisher-Tropsch synthesis. This produces syngas with a hydrogen/carbon monoxide molar ratio closer to 2:1, the optimal feed stream to the Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquid synthesis. Optimized nickel-based and iron-based catalysts were used to increase the methanol production and make the process more economically sustainable.

The distillation system at Red River Biorefinery has issues with its anhydrous ethanol production rate and energy consumption. Using design of experiments techniques, the team ran the system through ASPEN and Minitab software to find optimal ways to improve the system. These methods helped find and analyze potential changes that could reduce energy usage and increase product output, while keeping modification cost minimal.

The analysis showed that changing the reflux ratio, feed temperature, operating temperature and pressure improved efficiency by increasing the production rate of anhydrous ethanol. The team also found that changing the feed temperature and reflux ratio had the largest impact on increasing production, while maintaining its purity and lowering energy consumption.

This proton exchange membrane (PEM) can be used in fuel cell applications, efficiently providing clean electricity to power items like cars, houses and generators. Fuel cells, along with other electrochemical devices, rely on the electrolyte inside to transfer a charge. By improving the electrolyte’s ability to operate at higher temperatures – up to 200 degrees Celsius – and with minimal external systems, higher conduction rates can be realized.

This functionalization process was developed in the laboratory with small-scale fuel cell testing. The team created a series of chemical baths for the PEM which facilitate amine-phosphate reactions within the polymer that allow for optimal proton conduction rates. The conduction rate was obtained by measuring current and voltage production from the experimental fuel cell using PowerSuite software. The experimental findings were applied to an industrial scale to develop a process that produces 382m2 of functionalized PEM a year.