Objectives/Goals
The objective was to determine if an average family can support its home's fuel needs for a week by
converting a week's worth of organic garbage into alcohol fuel.
Methods/Materials
A fraction of a family's organic garbage output was mashed and fermented in a warm environment for 7
days. A homemade still, built from a pressure cooker, 10 feet of copper tubing, a coffee can, and a small
bowl, distilled the newly formed alcohol out of the fermented organic trash. The amount of alcohol fuel
was measured and used to calculate if the average family could support their energy needs using this
method.
Results
After fermentation, the mashed organic garbage contained 10 percent alcohol. Using the still, the mash
was distilled to 1200 ml of 27 percent alcohol. This was distilled again for 933 ml of 39 percent alcohol,
and once more for a final 532 ml of 50 percent alcohol fuel.
Conclusions/Discussion
Using statistics from the California Energy Commission's pamphlet "ABC's to AFV's", the experimenter
compared the average family's organic garbage output and the average household's fuel requirements to
the results of the experiment. Calculations showed that the fuel produced from an average family's week's
worth of organic garbage could power the average family's household for 8 days.
To recycle organic trash into alcohol fuel at a home-based level in order to meet the average household's
energy requirements.
Teacher helped finalize permits; father helped build still; mother bought materials