UBC representing Canada at AIChE Nationals

In early April (the weekend before exams!) our team managed to secure a spot at the AIChE National Chem-E-Car competition by placing 2nd in our Region. We have now received a list of teams that qualified for the AIChE Nationals; unfortunately, none of our Canadian counterparts qualified. To ensure Canada (and UBC) is well represented at the AIChE National Competition, we are currently designing upgrades to our vehicle to increase consistency of our trials as well as performing experiments to better understand our reactions.

Again, we will be showcasing a controlled on-board hydrogen production reaction (sodium borohydride with water over catalyst).

Design & Donations

May 15, 2013

We are halfway through our design month and have some ideas for the new chassis and reactor. We have also been working on a new control system, which should eliminate most of our variables that relate to speed and distance control. We will be releasing some of our designs at the end of the month along with a sneak peak at our new control system.

We have managed to recover some scrap aluminum and are seeking donations of any kind, the more scrap raw materials we can salvage the more environmentally friendly our car will be. Our ideal car is one that has almost entirely recycled parts, because it becomes less expensive economically and environmentally.

Lastly, we are trying to improve our sensing technology to be able to better characterize our reaction and improve our information on the reaction kinetics involved. If interested in donating parts or funds to the project please contact:
project.chem-e@live.ca or sponsorship.chem-e@live.ca

All donations are very appreciated!

First post

First UBC Chem-E-Car team blog: May 7, 2013

We are UBC’s Chem-E-Car team (sometimes known as Reaction Car team). We compete in the AIChE Chem-E-Car competition, more information will be provided in subsequent posts. On April 6, using our “Dehydrated Water Mobile” we placed 2nd out of 4 teams at the Pacific Northwest Regional AIChE student conference in Bozeman, Montana and secured our spot at the 2013 National competition in San Francisco, California in the Fall. We used an acid catalyzed sodium borohydride reaction with water to produce hydrogen on board the vehicle in a safe reaction/pressure vessel. The hydrogen was slowly released into a fuel cell which provided power for a small electric motor .

The team is currently seeking sponsors and donation of parts to allow us to progress through the summer and into next year. We will have more sponsorship information and packages as the month progresses, if you are currently interested in sponsorship please contact: ubc.chem-e@live.ca

Travelling team members from left to right: Norvin, Joel, Colleen, Gary, Phillip. Car shown: “Dehydrated Water Mobile”

Placing 2nd in the region, the team not only secured a spot representing the Pacific Northwest Region, but also won $100 to go towards future team endeavours.