by Vishnu Mangipudi
5th Grade (Bellevue, WA)
Second Place
January 27, 2017; Los Angeles, CA
The air, packed with smoke, blanketed the town. The once vibrant and bustling city had ground to a halt after the dense smog settled in, devastating all life. The once utopian society was no more; the tourism industry had vanished. The thick, hazy atmosphere stifled the town. The town’s reputation was tarnished, with people calling it “the most contaminated city in the world.” As the inhabitants of the town drowned in the toxic air, the citizens had no help at all.
Then, one dreary night, Amanda arrived. Amanda had just gotten her Ph.D. in Sustainable, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering. When she arrived at her hometown of Los Angeles, CA, what she saw was very much not what she expected. Instead of the lush, green woodlands that she used to call home, she saw a darkened landscape. The pollutants included nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and various other pollutants produced by the combustion of coal. She was determined to save her hometown using the skills she had just learned.
Utilizing the engineering design process, she got to work. She first asked her relatives (who lived at the town) about what happened. They said that the city installed a coal-fired power plant just after Amanda had left, which relied on low-quality lignite and sub-bituminous coal. These inferior coals burn quite poorly and release a torrent of various carbon-based pollutants. She then used her existing research to develop possible solutions. This anomaly could be fixed by substituting the lignite with higher grade anthracite, which burns cleaner. There was no anthracite in the area, so she scrapped that idea and continued to brainstorm. Eventually, she came up with a promising solution. Her idea was to implement a system that would use the carbon-containing pollutants to generate sustainable energy and detoxify the air. After she designed her machine, she started to gather the resources required for her prototype. A few days later, she built a model of her machine, which she called “Carburn”. She created a scale model of her final project and then tested the device. She attached a multimeter to the ends of the generator and passed some of the smog through the Carburn. The multimeter read “0 volts”. She knew that this indicated that something was not working, so she improved and redesigned her model. On her 14th attempt, she finally generated current! She couldn’t believe it! She had created a device that could be used to harness the energy of the sunlight to convert carbon-containing pollutants to energy! She still wanted to improve the prototype, so she continued testing. Newer versions ensued. Version 23 could additionally harness wind energy to power granaries in the town, which was a plus, given that the current technology utilized low-quality coal. V37 was portable, so it could be attached to a car or plane. Finally, after 2 months of hard work, she created a product that was both economically feasible, and green-positive: The Carburn 50. With a permeable carbon nanotube exterior that sucks up pollutants, it would passively purify the surrounding air, and take the carbon-rich compounds to a catalytic chamber, lined with a tin catalyst. The catalyst had copper oxide infused in an electrode composed of Tin and Tin Oxide, converting the CO2 to energy-rich CO. CO contains a lot more energy than Hydrogen gas, which is an added bonus. This innovation could be rooted into the ground for powering towns, or it could be hooked up to the exhaust pipe of a car or jet engine. It could resist a large range of temperatures, pressures, and humidity. She had done the impossible, or should we say, improbable: harness energy from waste. She had finally tackled her hometown’s energy crisis!
January 25, 2019; International Conference of Women in Engineering, Finland
“For our environmental engineer of the year, we have an entrepreneur. A woman who has endured many barriers. An everlasting inspiration. The inventor of the world-renowned Carburn! We present to you: Amanda Jones!” Amanda was amazed. She never realized that a scrappy idea made by a young woman could have such profound effects on the reduction of pollutants across the world. In a press conference later that evening, she spoke: “We live in a society that is geared towards the improvement of mankind. Who said that women cannot make a difference? Every single one of you girls out there, whether you’re just getting a start, or have a degree, can make a change. You are the entrepreneurs of the future. You have the power to change the world. Never lose your passion for science, technology, engineering, art, or math. These are the skills of the future, and you will be the ones to utilize them. Even if we face oppression or social discrimination, I know that we can make a difference. As Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.” Thank you.”
Annotated Bibliography
https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/sota/city-rankings/most-polluted-cities.html for the polluted city. Resource cited at 3:08:53 PM, Jan 30, 2019
https://www.lung.org/our-initiatives/healthy-air/sota/health-risks/ for air pollution risks. Resource cited at 3:14:53 PM, Jan 30, 2019
https://www.teachengineering.org/k12engineering/designprocess for the image of the engineering design process. Resource cited at 4:20:53 PM, Jan 30, 2019
https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-types-coal?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products for research on the types of coal. Resource cited at 4:22:53 PM, Jan 30, 2019
https://materialdistrict.com/article/smog-free-tower-tours-world/ for the image of the “prototype”. Resource cited at 4:22:53 PM, Jan 30, 2019
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/cheap-catalysts-turn-sunlight-and-carbon-dioxide-fuel for the idea of using sunlight and carbon dioxide as fuel. Resource created on June 7, 2017, at 4:00:00 PM
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-meaning-of-the-phrase-shoot-for-the-moon-and-if-you-miss-you-will-still-be-among-the-stars for the quote. Resource created on August 23, 2016.