Sam Guccione wanted to create a project for his students on an issue that directly effected society and the environment.

The School of Technology professor introduced his class to the idea of an alternative fuel source project six years ago.

Since that time, the professor and a handful of students have researched and maintained an alternative fuel go-kart.

While he was brainstorming the project with his brother, a chemical engineer, ethyl acetate was brought up.

“He said he had been working on a project to take waste paper and turn it into bio-fuel. We throw 55 million tons of waste paper away in the United States each year, so turning it into fuel helps two ways: waste reduction and cleaner fuel,” Guccione said.

Ethyl acetate, a compound found in nail polish, is used primarily as a solvent, but through dehydrogenation, a chemical reaction in involving the elimination of hydrogen molecules, its bi-products can form ethanol.

“My initial thought was to motivate students to help them see how bio-fuel would benefit us,” he said.

After he realized an actual car was out of the question, he settled on a go-kart instead.

Guccione negotiated with management at Rural King and received an academic discount on a small-bodied kart.

From there, the students began working to modify the go-kart to fit an adult by chopping and extending the frame. Larger tires, pedals and a steering wheel were added, along with improved brakes and steering.

The engine itself can run on a 20 percent ethyl acetate mix with little modification.

Because ethyl acetate has more oxygen molecules than regular gasoline, it needs more fuel injection to create the same combustion as gasoline. This is why ethanol fuel gives less gas mileage – a major drawback.

A car that gets 30 mpg with regular gasoline would be reduced to 22 mpg if run on 100 percent bio-fuels, Guccione said.

While these fuels are considerably less efficient than gasoline, they emit less greenhouse gases into the air.

Uros Marjanovic, graduate assistant for the automation lab, has been involved with the project for two years.

“It’s fun doing it, but we also know there’s a real academic point to it. It goes both ways,” he said.

During the summer, Marjanovic helped a former graduate assistant test the kart’s emissions.

The former student’s findings have yet to be published, but the group said ethanol has significantly less emission.

The high cost of bio-fuel production and its inefficiency are the major issues in regards to its use.

For every one gallon of ethanol three gallons of water are needed.

“If we can get over those issues, then bio-fuels are one of the alternatives we can use. I would look at it as a short-term alternative. If we can reduce our dependency on oil – that’s a big deal,” Guccione said.

For the future of the kart, the team plans to modify the engine’s carburetor to increase the amount of ethyl acetate used in the gasoline mixture as much as possible.

“This is an ongoing project; we’re going to be doing new things to it all the time,” Marjanovic said.

Fact Box:

Ethanol Quick Facts:

Ethanol production in the United States hit a record 4.86 billion gallons in 2006-nearly double the amount produced in 2000.

There are some 6 million “flexible fuel” vehicles on America’s highways that can run on up to 85 percent ethanol (E85).

A flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) can run on any combination of gasoline and ethanol up to 85 percent ethanol. You can fill up with E85 one time, E-10 Unleaded the next and ordinary unleaded the next-and a computer in the fuel system automatically adjusts for the level of ethanol in the fuel mix.

*Taken directly from http://www.ethanolfacts.com/ETHL2007/quickfacts.html