Students create biodiesel vehicle

Students create biodiesel vehicle

By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal

FREEDOM PLAINS — Usually when officials catch children riding a four-wheeler on school property, it isn't cause for applause. But Tuesday, dignitaries at Arlington High School went beyond applause and suggested students taking turns on a four-wheeler were helping to achieve a lofty goal: energy independence.

"This is the future," U.S. Rep. Sue Kelly, R-Katonah, said. "We've got to end our dependency on foreign oil. We can grow our own oil."

The 10 students in Dan Listemann's Principles of Engineering honors course started the semester with the goal of creating a vehicle that would run on biodiesel fuel. The project was done in partnership with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, with sponsorship from IBM Corp., Dutchess County Youth Bureau and Piggott's Farm in Poughkeepsie.

Listemann's students raised $1,000 and secured donations of parts and equipment, including the four-wheeler, from Teixeira's Polaris in Hyde Park. Shop classes worked to build Go Kart-like vehicles that could use the same engine. Students from an advanced placement environmental studies class created the fuel from waste grease at the cafeteria.

Frame modified

Listemann's class altered the four-wheeler's frame to fit a diesel engine, installed it, and worked out the kinks. He wanted his students to work through the problem-solving that goes into such a conversion, and for the public to see everyday vehicles could be converted fairly cheaply and easily to run on alternative fuels.

"We replaced the whole engine," Richard Mohamed, a senior from Union Vale, said. "The biggest modification we made was to the frame, to fit the engine. It was so big."

The project had Brandon Kimball, a Town of Poughkeepsie senior, thinking big about the potential of alternative fuels. Though the process is still in its infancy, New York plans to subsidize a cellulosic ethanol plant that could transform grasses, willow trees and other plants into fuel.

"The husks from one farm would basically be enough to run a town," Kimball said.

Superintendent Frank Pepe said his conversations with big local businesses such as IBM have taught him students need more than schooling in core subjects. Future engineers need to be creative and entrepreneurial. They have to work effectively on teams.

The project gave dozens of students the chance to apply those skills.

It had Mike Quaranto, a Beekman sophomore, thinking about his next truck.

"With gas prices the way they are now," Quaranto said, "I'm thinking of making a biodiesel."