The University hosted 16 student teams hailing from New York to Virginia late last month for the regional Chem-E-Car competition. Students competed to build a vehicle capable of carrying a weight across a distance of 15-30 meters. This year marked the University’s first turn as the host for the regional conference.
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers began the Chem-E-Car competition in 1999 as a way to increase student involvement in engineering. The competition is a test of engineering aptitude, with a top prize of $200 and a chance to compete in the national competition.
Fourth-year Engineering student Gregory Ott was responsible for organizing this year’s competition.
“When there’s 16 schools, they’re all really eager to get to the national competition; they want everything to be just right,” Ott said. “The idea of the competition is that it’s mostly a student-run thing.”
The competition has drawn a small but devoted following at the University.
“It’s kind of a small niche kind of thing to be a part of, because as a chemical engineer I love this kind of stuff — I like chemical reactions,” Ott said. “Those who are chemical engineers really enjoy it.”
Ott collaborated with the chemical engineering department, recreational sports staff and the environmental health and safety office to execute the competition.
The institute requires teams cap chemicals to a total rating of two as dictated by the National Fire Protection Agency 704, a standard system that classifies the potential hazards of chemicals. The ratings rank chemicals on flammability, health hazard and reactivity on a scale of zero to four, making note of special precautions.
“There’s different ratings for the chemicals based on how flammable they are, how reactive they are, how dangerous they are to your health,” Ott said. “Nothing very dangerous. There is some hydrogen here, which is flammable, but there’s extra precautions taken to make sure that’s OK.”
Despite the limitations, students have devised a variety of ways to power the vehicles.
“Most cars run off either hydrogen fuel cells, some kind of pressure generating reaction such as manganese dioxide, hydrogen peroxide — just two things you combine and they create a gas that makes a pressure difference so you can move the car that way — [and] a couple lead acid batteries just like you have in a car except they’re built by students from scratch,” Ott said.
The winner of this year’s competition was Virginia Tech.
“I love seeing so many people interested,” Ott said. “It’s a good way to kind of think about alternative energy — using different chemicals instead of just gasoline to power a car.”
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