Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis

What exactly is Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis?

In the summer of 2010, ten teachers participated in the Research Experiences for Teachers: Shaping Inquiry from Feedstock-to_Tailpipe (RET:SHIFT) program, a workshop at the University of Kansas. The Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis is a NSF Engineering Research Center focusing on biofuels, catalysis, nanotechnology, and green engineering. The CEBC labs are headquartered at the University of Kansas with partners including the University of Iowa, Washington University in St. Louis, and Prairie View A&M University.

This Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program was recently funded by the National Science Foundation to engage science teachers in research to develop renewable fuels. The program involves a partnership between the University of Kansas Biodiesel Initiative, Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC) and Transportation Research Institute (TRI). The program also partners with the Southeast Kansas Educational Service Center in Greenbush, Kansas.

Feedstock to Tailpipe The focus of this workshop was for teachers to research and develop curricula within some area of biofuels. The following list were research topics worked on by the teachers involved with the 2010 workshop: Project 1:  Ecosystem Processes Related to Biomass Production Project 2: Maximizing Oil Production from Algae Biomass Project 3: Extracting Oils from Biomass for Producing Biofuels Project 4: Biodiesel Formulations Project 5:  Thermodynamics of Biodiesel-Powered Engines Project 6: Measuring Emissions from Biodiesel Fueled Vehicles

There were two of us that looked at the last two research projects, the thermodynamics of biodiesel-powered engines and the emissions from biodiesel fueled vehicles. One of us (Greg Bacon) is the automotive instructor at Pratt Community College and one of us (Alan Gleue) is a high school physics instructor at Lawrence High School. We were assisted by Dr. Chris Depcik, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Kansas and Dr. Ted Peltier, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering Department, University of Kansas. We worked on a set of activities during the summer. You can access them with the following link. These documents are saved as pdf files.

Our Activities

Greg Bacon
Alan Gleue
Dr. Chris Depcik
Dr. Ted Peltier

Alan Gleue
Lawrence High School
July 13, 2010

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