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High-School students from India win Bronze at I-SWEEEP 2015
High School students from India won Bronze Medal at I-SWEEEP I-SWEEEP (International
Sustainable World Energy Engineering Environment Project Olympiad) 2014 concluded on 11 th May
2015 at Houston, USA.
Three projects from Agni INSEF (Indian Science & Engineering Fair) National Science fair were
qualified for representation at I-SWEEEP 2015. All the three projects won Bronze Medal for their
respective subject categories.
The project details are as follows:
1) “A novel process to create eco-friendly composite material by recycling coconut husk and waste
paper” by Kahnvi Kanani & Kinjal Saradva, 10th Std, Shree G.K.Dholakiya School, Rajkot
2) “A Novel fruit/vegetable dryer with integrated moisture capture design”, by Kajol Shelke &
Sakshi Pandey, 9th Std, NMWS High School, Ghatkopar, Mumbai
3) “A novel design of nasal mask using silica sheet infiltrated with slurry of PVA and activated
carbon”, Dhanushree.P & Lavanya Hemanth, 10th Std, Vagdevi Vilas School, Bangalore
I-SWEEEP is a prestigious program attracting over 68 countries from all over the works.
Science Society of India is proud to associate with Agni College of Technology, Chennai to host the
INSEF National Fair and Chennai Regional Fair. Agni College of Technology also sponsored the
international travel for all qualified students.
Students from all over India can participate at INSEF free of cost. To participate at INSEF goto
http://sciencesociety.in
Students along with their guides after winning the Medals
A novel process to create eco-friendly composite material by recycling coconut husk and waste
paper
Kahnvi Kanani & Kinjal Saradva
10th Std, Shree G.K.Dholakiya School
Guided by: Ms Apexa Joshi
Abstract:
To decrease environmental degradation it is important to recycle waste materials and put them to
good use. We have developed a novel process that uses waste paper,
coconut husk and natural guar gum to create a composite material that
has variety of applications.
We used waste paper and coconut husk in different proportions like 5050, 40-60, 30-70, 80-20. We also experimented with various natural
binders such as rice flour, corn flour, aloe vera gel, wheat flour and
finally found that guar gum is the best binder of all. The base material
created was tested for water absorption, fire resistance, biodegradability,
heat transfer & oil absorption. It is light-weight and non-brittle. Our
optimization experiments showed that 80% waste paper and 20% coconut
husk forms the best combination for creating the material.
Collect the waste paper and soak it for 6 hours. Take the coconut husk
powder with drained paper and crush in mixture grinder. Add 1% guar gum as a binder and required
amount of water. Make a paste. The overall process takes 6 hours and does not require any heating.
Our material is ready to use. It can be used in various applications.
The composite material created can be used for variety of application such as disposable plates and
glasses, plates, boxes, show pieces, toys etc. We also made germination pot using our material.
Once the seeds germinate in our pot, it can be directly put in the ground-pit without the need to
transfer the germinated mud block into the soil separately. Unlike plastic germination bags, our
germination pot is natural & bio-degradable.
We did a detailed comparison of the physical properties, biodegradability, and user experience of
plates made from our coconut husk/waste paper composite and standard commercially available
paper plates. From the measurements of tensile strength, flexibility, water and oil absorption,
degradation time in soil etc. we find that our composite plates provide an eco-friendly and costeffective alternative to the standard plates used. Initial fled trials of our product at local restaurants
suggest satisfactory user acceptance of these products.
A Novel fruit/vegetable dryer with integrated moisture capture design
Kajol Shelke & Sakshi Pandey
9th Std, Nmws High School, Ghatkopar, Mumbai
Guided by: Rajeswari Nair
Abstract:
Fruits and vegetables are changing due to changes in climate. Due to moisture content present in
fruits and vegetables, they cannot be preserved beyond their shelf life. Drying is the only method to
remove moisture content from fruits and vegetables and preserve them. There are several methods
of drying fruits and vegetables. While drying, various nutritive elements get released into the
atmosphere with the water content. Till date we have no technique to collect the water content after
fruits and vegetables are dehydrated. An improved design is proposed to
investigate the efficiency of modified oven to capture moisture while
drying fruits and vegetables which is otherwise lost.
In our new technique we are able to dehydrate the fruits and vegetables
as well as collect the vapours .These vapours contain the nutritive
elements which get released with the water content when we heat the
fruits and vegetables in our technique.
We have modified an existing oven to make it work as a dehydrator
which will also collect the moisture content from fruits and vegetables.
Our modified oven works on electricity. We have fixed two fans, one at
the top for the collection of humid air and the other fixed at the door for
assuring even drying. The heating elements are controlled by a timer and
a temperature controller. The digital timer can be set in hour/minutes/seconds as per our
requirement. After the time completion, it switches off the load and allows the temperature to cool
down. We have inserted a thermocouple K type
sensor to precisely control the temperature. The
sliced fruits and vegetables are heated at 65
degrees Celsius. The moisture content from
fruits and vegetables gets evaporated and the
humid air is removed by the fan and it passes
through the metallic pipe. This humid air gets
condensed and is collected in the vapour
collector chamber. This modified oven uses one
unit of electricity for one hour initially, and
there after it decreases.
A novel design of nasal mask using silica sheet infiltrated with slurry of PVA and activated
carbon
Dhanushree.P & Lavanya Hemanth
10th Std, Vagdevi Vilas School, Marathahalli Post, Bangalore
Guided by: Mrs. Anitha Sukhdev
Abstract:
Fresh, pollutant-free air is the most essential and inevitable requirement. Urbanization, lifestyle,
automobiles etc. have raised the levels of air pollutants to an alarming level. We are now left with a
little choice of escaping from these harmful air pollutants. The current model “A novel design of
nasal mask using silica sheet infiltrated with slurry of PVA and activated carbon” is designed to
adsorb most of the air pollutants on its surface allowing the person
wearing the mask to breathe pollutant free air.
The design involves infiltration of silicon fabric with activated carbon.
Slurry of activated carbon (12gms AC in 99ml H2O) is mixed with PVA
(1ml PVA/99ml slurry). PVA acts as a fixative and helps in infiltration of
activated carbon during the heat treatment. The slurry is sprayed on the
silica sheet with a spray gun of 1.4mm nozzle to ensure penetration of
activated carbon into the interstitial spaces of fibrils of silica sheet. The
sheet is then subjected to heat treatment in a hot air oven at 100°C
overnight to facilitate infiltration of activated carbon. Using
ultrasonicator for uniform slurry, spraying slurry under pressure, Heat
treatment will ensure activated carbon is fixed firmly within the silica
fabric.
The sheet thus obtained is flanked on one side with a layer of gauze followed by cotton fibrils and
then by a layer of cotton fabric. Thus the mask has multilayer filtering. These fabric layers along
with silica sheet infiltrated with activated carbon ensure a stringent filtering process. The efficiency
of mask has been tested using simple house hold vacuum cleaner to check suspended air particles
and Sensor based emission test to check gases like CO2, HC, CO.
The mask is ecofriendly as no harmful chemicals are used. The efficiency in filtering pollutants is
proved to be more than other commercially available masks. The activated carbon is evenly spread,
making the filter much more capable of filtering the fine pollutants. There is no
leaking/accumulation of activated carbon during the usage. The final silica sheet can also be used as
window panes at homes or offices which ensures clean unpolluted air in the indoors.
Historical Team-India Performance at I-SWEEEP
Year
Projects Sent
Awards Won
2010
3
1 Silver,
1 Bronze
1 Hon. Mention
2011
3
2 Bronze
1 Hon. Mention
2012
2
1 Gold
1 Bronze
2013
4
1 Gold
2 Silver
1 Bronze
2014
3
1 Gold
2 Silvers