Ninth-grader Wins Award for Algal Biofuel Research
Evie Sobczak, a ninth-grader at Shorecrest Preparatory School, St.Petersburg, won Pinellas County Science Fair award for her research project on algal biofuels. With a great focus on alternative energy and concern over environmental issues, the 14 years old girl has been participating in the science fair since she was in the sixth grade.
Last year she built a photobioreactor which enhanced the growth of spirogyra. She researched to find which among phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium increased the lipid content of the algae. She extracted oil and produced biodiesel. She won awards for this in county and state fairs.
Earlier this year she built an improved photobioreactor which allows the testing of algae growth in hydrostatic and ambient conditions. The improvements also allow Evie to determine how much carbon dioxide the algae could consume to create a viable biofuel that would also reduce greenhouse emissions. Evie earned first place honors at the Tampa Bay Living Green Expo held this month at the Coliseum. Evie will represent the Southeast region at the International Sustainable World (Energy, Engineering, and Environment) Project Olympiad in Houston, this May.
Earlier in the sixth grade she did experiments with solar power and in the seventh grade her focus was on wind. The seeds for algae research were sown after she read a research article on algal fuels.
Evie says, “I always want to stay in the area of renewable energies and resources because that’s really the way our whole world is going to go when we run out of fossil fuels.” She hopes to get support from any company to commercialize algae fuels.
