Teachers’ Perspective – Green Team Algae Project

May 09, 2014

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by Pamela Rockwell* (Advanced Biofuels USA) Sid Harwood and Shannon Helzer both have a military background, both are physics teachers at Daniel Boone High School in Birdsboro, PA, and both are committed to the success of the Go Clean, Go Green, Go Algae Project that developed biodiesel from algae. The similarities between these leaders of the “Green Team” appear to end there, and that is exactly what they would like other teachers to know who are considering setting up an algae project for their own school.
Together, they were able to provide the Green Team with an essential framework until the students were able to take over the project for themselves. Helzer admitted, “Actually, I don’t fully understand the answers the students are giving to you right now, but the students do.”
What do the teachers know now that they wished they had known at the onset? What do they want other potential teachers to know before they set up their own projects? These were the questions put to the teachers and students of the Green Team.
“You’re not doing this alone” said Helzer. “Sid Harwood led on the research front. He is the science behind the project and I forged a path to provide grant money, lab space and public relations.” Harwood wanted to introduce his AP Physics class to the field of alternative energy. About six years ago, he contacted an acquaintance, Rex Cox from Just Right Automotive, a company in nearby Breiningsville to give a generic talk on the subject. Cox has a business degree and had done work on fuel cells. The students were intrigued, and that introduction led to a class project on alternative fuels. The students decided upon algae biofuel because of the high energy yield.
From there, it grew into a school-wide competition. The two winning teams were then combined to form the Green Team and entered the Lexus Eco Air and Climate Change Challenge Project. They were one of the winners for first place in the Lexus Air & Climate Challenge, winning $10.000 and proceeded on to become one of 8 first place winners in the Lexus Eco Final Challenge, winning an additional $15,000.
Initially Harwood envisioned a five year plan. His first goal was to build photobioreactors and set up a DOE (design of experiment) in which the students could systematically vary the nutritional and photosynthetic requirements of the algae to maximize yield. “I didn’t plan to extract oil from the algae until the second year”- but all that changed when they decided to enter the Eco Challenge. All of a sudden the five year plan contracted to two months! “I highly recommend a longer timeframe- you can’t possibly do in two months what you could do in a year or more.” noted Harwood. The plan went into overdrive and all the reactors were up and running in no time, when they hit their first technical obstacle.
“The algae was growing just fine one day, and the next day everything died,” confirmed Helzer. Dr. John Ullrich, the Chemistry Department chair of Rosemont College and a faculty member of Villanova University stepped in and helped the Green Team understand the different smells that represent clues about the health of the algae. “He put us two years ahead of schedule,” said Helzer. “Ullrich was also present during our Bioreactor Premiere Night in which the students demonstrated the project to a group of approximately 90 parents, teachers and the public. I didn’t have to say anything,” said Helzer. “The students handled the whole thing.”
Ullrich showed the students how to dry the algae and press out the oil, even lending them a citrus press which they modified. “The students only saw the citrus press about an hour before Premiere Night! That’s how close it was!” said Harwood. Ullrich later told the Green Team about Penn State which has an algae biofuels program. The Green Team was also very glad to hear about Advanced Biofuels USA and wished that they had known about the organization before the project.
Ullrich also introduced the Green Team to Dr. Gary Jones from MARS Fishcare, who helped them understand water chemistry and provided pro bono supplies. “Dr. Jones donated about 12 different test kits containing strips to monitor nitrogen, ammonia and other components to maintain optimum conditions for the algae,” said Helzer and Harwood.
RSC BioSolutions was a third company contacted. Helzer spoke about a small world when referring to Dr. Bernard Roell in North Carolina who provided another “big picture” view of the algae project since his company purchases large quantities of lipids as a key ingredient for biodegradable cleaning products sold by that company. “It turns out that Roell’s daughter currently attends Daniel Boone High School, and she is one of our students!” exclaimed Helzer.
Each of the nine students was known to Harwood and most were known to Helzer before the project began. Each student was chosen and brought a unique expertise to the team. Each also mastered an additional skill or focus in case another team member had to drop out for some reason. “We wanted to avoid blind spots by incorporating as many perspectives as possible,” confirmed Harwood.
After accepting the Eco Challenge’s drastic time line restriction, Harwood suggested they look at the initiatives of the previous five Eco Challenge winners and decide which ones they wanted to incorporate into the Go Green Go Algae project. They constructed a story board and each student put up what they considered to be the best ideas to incorporate into their algae biofuels project. One of the ideas on the storyboard was to make videos of each step, so others could use them as a model. The Green Team posted their biofuels project videos on the school website.
Harwood and Helzer funded the enterprise out of pocket in the beginning, but Helzer soon began to look for other sources of financial support. He found a grant for $500.00 and both he and Harwood applied, giving them an initial $1000.00 to kick start the project. Later on, Helzer requested financial support from legislators such as Judith Schwenk, David Maloney and Jim Gurlach. He also contacted several companies, and applied for additional grants. Before long, the students were taking these roles upon themselves, and took charge of the courtyard project. (More about that under the students' write-up.)
Helzer and Harwood, as well as the students, were determined to share their knowledge with other schools. Each student was assigned a specific state and they googled science teachers in each one. Ultimately 1500 emails were sent throughout the US and Europe, as part of a massive publicity campaign. A team of 60 students from Daniel Boone helped out with the emails. “We received only two responses,” admitted Helzer.
Another initiative involved introducing younger students to biofuels. A plan is in place to send a set of three small photobioreactors to middle school classrooms where these younger students can start experimenting with variables such as light and water conditions.
What do Harwood and Helzer want prospective project leaders to know ahead of time?

To recap, most important, “Take more time than we did.” (two months)
“Don’t do this alone.” Contact acquaintances, companies, other schools, the public, and legislators for support, supplies and advice.

The specifics of their short list follow:

Form a team of 3-4 teachers, each with their own unique skills and perspectives to form a successful project.
Build a broad network. Acquaintances, local business people, professors, and political contacts were tapped for ideas, support and publicity, as evidenced above.
Get the physical infrastructure in place beforehand or else it gets very expensive and difficult. Helzer was able to convince the administration to give them the classroom right across the hall to set up their biofuels project, and an alternate classroom was found for the resident teacher.
Get financial backing ahead of time if possible
Allow time for the students’ learning curve. “We knew that starting with algae out of the local ponds was not the way to go, but we had to let the students take the lead from the start, and wait for them to see the results unfold. It would have been faster and easier for them to begin from where WE judged to be the best starting point and proceed according to OUR best judgment, but it would never have generated the kind of confidence they earned by learning from their own mistakes,” remarked Helzer. “They figured it out and then applied what they had learned to a more appropriate algal species. – Their hard work wasn’t lost.”

A link to the videos made by the Green Team can be found clicking on “more” tab using this link. http://gocleangogreengoalgae.weebly.com/
Or go directly to the process videos page: http://gocleangogreengoalgae.weebly.com/building-process-videos.html (includes a parts list)
*Pamela Rockwell has been working in R&D, biomaterials, and formulations for more than 20 years. She has tried her hand at teaching, as well. Bringing these interests together, she will be covering educational events and working with Advanced Biofuels USA on educational projects.
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