Here are weekly highlights of our progress
User Persona
Decison Matrix
Progress Update: 4/29
As of right now, we are conducting research on burning coconut husks for biofuel. Our methods include researching peer reviewed journals and emailing and arranging meetings with professors at Cal Poly who have knowledge on the subject.
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In addition, we are planning to use a kiln to do a burn of coconut husks and observe the efficiency of the burn. This will help us decide whether it would be best to burn the husk itself or to burn husk briquettes.
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5/15 First Burn
Our first burn took place on Port San Luis, Avila. It was more difficult than we thought it would be and there were a lot of obstacles we did not account for. The metal tin we used to burn the coconut husks had a hole that allowed oxygen to flow through the inside and the cover to the metal tin also had various openings. Another factor we need to consider in our results is the use of wood. Not only did we burn coconut husks, but we also used the burning of the wood to produce the heat to make the coconut husk charcoal.
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We were unable to achieve a clean burning of the coconut husks but we still obtained coconut husk charcoal that we can make briquettes out of as well as have enough for a potential second burn. Not all of the coconut husk that we burned turned into charcoal; much of the
inner portion of the husks within the inner chamber was still in the first stages of becoming charcoal.
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We have a few recommendations for next time. Make sure there are no holes in the inner and outer chambers of the kiln. We also see value in using something that can be evenly distributed around the inner chamber and thus can burn at an even pace. This will help us achieve our goal in providing clean and efficient gas release.
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5/24/18 Second Burn
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The second burn took place in a control lab setting at Cal Poly. We used an electric chamber to burn the coconut husk into a charcoal foam. There are many pros and cons to this method. Using this method, we know no oxygen will access the chamber and we are able to control the temperature of the burn. We don't know the correct amount of heat needed to create a sufficient bio-charcoal out of coconut husks and how clean the bio-charcoal will be. Furthermore, we do not know how environmentally friendly it is and how much electricity we are using.
