Since 2009 Castle Park High students, under the guidance of Dr. Robert Pomeroy of UCSD, have learned to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil. Established students from our BASG group are now teaching our new members how to complete the process of biodiesel synthesis. In addition to the synthesis of biodiesel, students use a particle counter to determine how many particles are produced during the combustion of various fuels. These data indicate how βcleanβ the fuel burns and how particulate impacts our global climate. Students will present this field data in support of the benefits of using biodiesel. This year students will learn to grow algae on our high school campus, isolate the algal lipid, and produce biodiesel from this lipid. Our goal is to run the campus diesel tractor from our algal farm. Our booth, as in years past, will demonstrate the step-by-step process of biodiesel synthesis, discuss the advantages of biodiesel over petroleum diesel and outline the ease of production. Our students speak from the perspective of experience as they work from the algae field to the lab bench, completing each stage of the production.
