BrevardBioDiesel Blog

Local 6th graders Maggi and Lilli Marshall have followed up on last years biofuel science fair projects with another set of first place entries. The 12-year-olds are 6th graders at West Melbourne Elementary School for Science. Both entries will now proceed to the Brevard County District Science Fair in April. The girls are daughters of Cammie and the late Chris Marshall - their work continues to honor his passion for biofuels.

Lilli's project compared the effects of biodiesel, ethanol, and gasoline in a simulated marine spill environment. Her experiment ran for 22 days and measured pH and algae plant mass. Her abstract is available here.

Maggi's project compared the fuel properties of various types of ethanol. Starting with denatured ethanol, she produced a usable fuel, and with the assistance of the Airmasters R/C club of Sebastian FL, flew RC airplanes on three types of fuel. Her abstract is available here.

As part of its "Noted Environmentalists Lecture Series", the Environmental Learning Center (ELC) in Vero Beach Florida, along with the Indian River Land Trust, is presenting a talk on Wednesday, January 21 from 6:30 until 8 pm about Biofuels called "Getting Gas From Garbage".

Dr. Ann C. Wilkie, the 2007 winner of the 2008 Florida Energy Achievement Award, will be presenting the information. Her current research project involves biodiesel production from algae. A quote from Dr. Wilkie: "Fossil fuel is fossil thinking."

Dr. Wilkie can be heard discussing waste energy production in these clips from "The Florida Environment" radio program:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The cost is $30 or $25 for ELC and IRLT members. Also provided are wine and organic snacks.
Address: 255 Live Oak Drive Vero Beach FL 32963
Map

A Continental 737-800 ran a test flight out of Texas using B50 (50% biodiesel, 50% jet fuel) in one of its two engines. The test included an intentional mid-air engine restart. The majority of the biofuel feedstock was jatropha, with the remainder derived from algae oil. Algal oil was provided by Sapphire Energy and jatropha oil by Terrasol.