Headstart Bath Chemical Engineering Course

I feel so isolated from school at the moment as I have missed this whole week due to a Headstart Chemical Engineering course at the University of Bath. There were 29 of us year 12's from all over the UK who attended the course and we were split into teams of 4/5.  I had a great team and everyone on the course was so friendly that by the end of it, all of us had become good friends and didn't want to leave!
Our task was to investigate the different structures of biodiesel produced from the oils present in a range of different coffees which are on the market today. We did this by extracting the coffee oils on our first day, followed by producing the biodiesel and lastly, we analysed our fuel structure using NMR. Each team was given a different coffee type ((Headstart Heroes (my team i.e. the best team) had Guatemala)) and by the end of the course we analysed our results against each other.

Here is the basic method of our experiments:

1. Extract the oils from our allocated coffee by measuring and mixing the coffee granules with heptane in a 1:5 ratio. This was followed by stirring the mixture with magnetic mixers which, when put over a magnetic counter, moved around in the solution by magnetic fields. The next stage was to filter this solution to separate the coffee grains from the heptane and the coffee oils. This whole stage must be repeated multiple times to ensure all the oil is extracted and obtained. Lastly, we took the mixture of heptane and coffee oils to a rotary evaporator which lowered the round-bottomed flask into a water bath at 60C and rotated it to allow the mixture to heat up evenly. This meant that the heptane could evaporate off and leave the desired coffee oils in the flask as heptane has a lower boiling point than the oil. 
2. Production of biodiesel from our obtained coffee oils. This was done by adding measured amounts of methanol/sulphuric acid, glycerol, chloroform, acid and distilled water to the oils. Sulphuric acid is required as the catalyst. We used reflux condensers to heat a hot plate and  allow this mixture to heat, stir and react overnight.
3. Purification of biodiesel by removing all of the previously added substances. As there were liquids and solids involved, we had to undergo a variety of separation methods to obtain just the biodiesel. There was an unknown solid substance in the mixture so we filtered it out and weighed it's mass. The second step was to add chloroform and distilled water, then use a separating funnel to allow an emulsion to occur and form two layers: an aqueous layer on top (consisting of methanol/sulphuric acid, glycerol, acid and distilled water) and the denser organic layer on the bottom (chloroform and biodiesel). When these layers had separated we ran off the desired organic layer into a clean conical flask and removed the waste aqueous layer. This was repeated to ensure all of the chloroform/biodiesel was collected. Finally, we transferred the chloroform and biodiesel into a round-bottomed flask and repeated the rotary evaporator process to be left with just the biodiesel. We recorded this mass.                                                                            

After we did these experiments, all of the groups made some calculations (I won't confuse you with the maths) to find the oil and biodiesel yield (percentage of oil/biodiesel produced from the coffee) along with the percentage of different esters within the biodiesel. This allowed us to estimate the freezing point and cetane number of our specific coffees and compare these to one another:

 

Results from the biodiesel investigation

 

As we could see from our results, all coffees followed the trend (except the 'Vietnam anomaly') of having the largest proportion of polyunsaturated esters and smallest amount of monounsaturated esters. This means that all the biodiesels produced would make efficient and safe fuels and we concluded that even though the coffees followed the same trend, they still differed in biodiesel/oil yields hence supporting the hypothesis that coffees will differ in oil production depending on where they come from. We found that as the Indian coffee best matched the results which the professors achieved earlier, it would probably abide within EU standards and be the most effective fuel.

Throughout the duration on the course, we took part in a variety of activities each evening such as beach volleyball, BBQ, pub quiz, Frisbee in the park and my personal favourite: an All You Can Eat Buffet in the town of Bath. This meant that we got to see a massive amount of the University of Bath and the town of Bath as well.  

University of Bath

I found the whole campus very beautiful and welcoming which also describes the town very well too. Every view was of green grass, trees and ponds and it was very peaceful. Furthermore, it had a look of tradition about it and the students only had positive words to say about the university. However, what really impressed me was the sporting facilities. The sports building was HUGE and there was a state-of-the-art 50m swimming pool, a modern gym, big astro pitches, tennis courts and much more! Not to mention, a beach volleyball court with actual sand!
 

Breath-taking indoor swimming pool

 

Where we spent most of our breaks - by the lake

 

Stunning scenery

 

I found the course to be very beneficial as I had a great insight into what chemical engineers do and what they study in their degree. It made me realise that Chemical Engineering is definitely the course for me and I cannot wait to start studying it! I have learnt a great deal from the course including - teamwork skills, the ability to think independently and how to apply knowledge to real-life situations. We also had to write a student-standard lab report on our projects which was 5 pages long and over 1,000 words. We had a third of the time that real students have and they weren't expecting work of art but it was still challenging and it was judged professionally. This was a hard task but it has prepared me better for when I will start university as I have had a practice run at referencing and writing up a proper lab report so hopefully I will have a head start (excuse the pun) when my time comes to write my first one at university. Additionally, we had a day of problem-solving heat and mass balance/transfer maths questions which I found difficult but I learnt how to do them (nearly) so when I start studying Chemical Engineering, I will be ahead again. Lastly, we had to do a presentation in our teams on our projects/biodiesel and I made the PowerPoint for our team. We each had to speak for 2-3 minutes and I have always secretly enjoyed presentations and speaking in public so when Headstart Heroes WON I was so happy! We received 'University of Bath' T-Shirts (which I cannot wait to wear in front of my friends) and the pride of beating the other 5 teams. Although it was really sad leaving my new friends and returning from our short-lived university experience, I am happy that I went on the course and it has made me even more excited about attending university. There is a Facebook group from the course so we can all keep in touch there and we have already spoken about arranging a meet up this summer in London!