16 year old girl makes bio-fuel from algae in her parent's garage with no chemicals!

For a fifth-grade science fair, Evie Sobczak found that the acid in fruit could power clocks; she connected a cut-up orange to a clock with wire and watched it tick. In seventh grade, she generated power by engineering paddles that could harness wind. And in eighth grade, she started a project that eventually would become her passion: She wanted to grow algae and turn it into biofuel.

After four years of tinkering in her garage for about an hour each day, Sobczak (pronounced sob-chek) has finally figured it out. Her algae-to-fuel project won first place and best in category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, beating 1,600 other finalists from 70 countries. The Intel ISEF is one of the largest and most prestigious science fairs in the world.

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She engineered the system herself in her parent's garage and according to her, no chemicals are needed in the extraction process. She even cultivated the algae on her own.

I really believe algae could be our next fuel source because it doesn’t take a lot of land and it doesn’t take away from our food source. And if you use my processes, you don’t use any chemicals, so it’s not harming our environment. I live in Florida, so we have a lot of algae problems, so I thought why not use something negative to help our world?

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How amazing is this girl?! I love seeing innovations from young people, especially innovations that can potentially have a huge positive impact on the world. I know this is not the last that we will hear from her, I hope she continues to accomplish great things.

I hope she enjoys her visit to the JPL!

Thats amazing, goes to show you what us as citizens are capable of. Hopefully she wont mysteriously "disappear"

reply to post by braveswin


yeah, that is cool. but, she won't disappear, more like, the big companies will just steal the idea from her.

Originally posted by thishereguy


yeah, that is cool. but, she won't disappear, more like, the big companies will just steal the idea from her.

Hope she got a patent on her process before it went to the media....otherwise she is screwed already.

I hope she got the necessary patents, as well. I would hope that her parents would have made certain that was taken care of prior to the science fair that she won.

I'm expecting to see big things from this girl! That's quite an accomplishment at only 16 years old. She one of America's best and brightest for sure!

Originally posted by shaneslaughta

Originally posted by thishereguy


yeah, that is cool. but, she won't disappear, more like, the big companies will just steal the idea from her.

Hope she got a patent on her process before it went to the media....otherwise she is screwed already.

Patents do not provide the protection that many seem to think.. What protects patented ideas is a team of lawyers, and not necessarily the patent itself.

Regardless, its a cool story. Amongst the rubble that is the current education system, we still have brilliant minds! Its quite encouraging in many ways.

Will she disappear? No, I dont think so. The idea, if actually novel, will just be taken. If it is an idea that affects profit margin, it will not be used.

Different methods of dispersion of such ideas would be prudent. Once enough people have their hands on a such a thing, it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the current energy status quo. Sadly, this seems to be well publicized, and as such, I have my doubts about it actually going anywhere.

That said, the very fact such a young mind is pursuing these things may lead to a bright future for all of us.

I can only hope that she is going to turn out to be a leader in the energy reform.

Cool story, cool science project, but innovative it is not. There are companies, as well as private citizens, in the US that have been producing bio-fuel with algae for years.

Algae farm:






Nevertheless, S&F

Originally posted by shaneslaughta
I can only hope that she is going to turn out to be a leader in the energy reform.

Perhaps a better way to approach it, rather than waiting for an "energy savior," is to lead the way to energy reform ourselves. And to be clear, algae has been explored quite extensively. Its pretty cool stuff, actually.

Why wait when you can replicate this very idea yourself? There are so many people with so many brilliant ideas, but we try to go through a system that is built to exploit those achievements.

What ideas do you or your friends or your family have in taking small steps to changing the way we approach energy? What is holding you back from pursuing it?

If anything, this story should encourage all of us. That any of us, through some determination and cleverness, can collectively change the world. There is nothing stopping us except for ourselves.

reply to post by Serdgiam


I agree that we should take energy reform to the streets rather than wait for someone to save us all.

Originally posted by shaneslaughta
reply to post by Serdgiam

 

I agree that we should take energy reform to the streets rather than wait for someone to save us all.

So, what can we do to actually accomplish this?

As long as her study is published noone should be able to patent the process. It becomes free for all to employ. If she were to patent the process, than everyone using it would have to pay her. You patent a product or specific formula. You can't patent principals. You can hide the principles from people though, they call those trade secrets

If a person examines how something works they can build something similar themselves without worrying about patent infringement. As soon as you do this to sell a product than you have to pay patent rights.

The way that they keep us in the dark in things is to tell us that it doesn't exist or evidence shows it does not work that way. If you study some things, you can see that there are reasons things work that are not obvious or the obvious expensive looking things draw our attention from how it works.

reply to post by LeatherNLace


Her method is different because there are no chemicals involved in the extraction process, that's what sets her method apart from the rest.

Thanks for replying

Original and interesting , thank you for the thread .

I have been in Algea business for 10 years and it has the potential to change the world .

reply to post by Serdgiam

Why wait when you can replicate this very idea yourself? There are so many people with so many brilliant ideas, but we try to go through a system that is built to exploit those achievements.

The current system is a huge problem. We have a long way to go until that system cares more about the environment and the citizens, than it does about profit.

Originally posted by daryllyn
reply to post by Serdgiam

 

Why wait when you can replicate this very idea yourself? There are so many people with so many brilliant ideas, but we try to go through a system that is built to exploit those achievements.

The current system is a huge problem. We have a long way to go until that system cares more about the environment and the citizens, than it does about profit.

The only way to change that system is from the ground up. Meaning, its up to us, individually, to be that change.

The current system is never going to change otherwise. It has zero reason to, if the obvious reasons are not enough..

Yes its a novalty but it isnt a viable alternative to normal fuel as its to expensive.

Some research shows that algae fuel could one day be a significant part of the nation's energy supply. But the cost of producing it remains high and scientists are working on ways to bring it down.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
Yes its a novalty but it isnt a viable alternative to normal fuel as its to expensive.

Some research shows that algae fuel could one day be a significant part of the nation's energy supply. But the cost of producing it remains high and scientists are working on ways to bring it down.

edit on 19-6-2013 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

Plus, her process produced as much as 20 percent more oil than current methods, which could make algae biofuel cheaper.

Its not perfect by any means, but her method is more efficient and definitely a step in the right direction as far as streamlining this technology and making it as efficient and as cost effective as possible, so that maybe, it could be utilized in the future.

You know the oil companies will get ahold of it and it will disappear.

They hate competition.

Originally posted by kdog1982
You know the oil companies will get ahold of it and it will disappear.

They hate competition.

That's exactly the kind of thing that needs to stop. I find it extremely sad that this world is so driven by the almighty dollar, anything for profit, anything for a quick buck.

I hope that someday, the above will no longer be true.