Capstone Project Proposal
Capstone Project Proposal
Capstone Project Proposal
Project Proposal:
Background (Why/What)
According to the US Department of Energy, 1.3 million gallons of oil spill into US waters alone
each year, and major oil spills can greatly exceed that amount. There are various ways to clean
them up, such as sponges to absorb the oil, burning off the oil or chemical dispersants, but they
produce a lot of waste that sinks to the bottom of the ocean and can harm the environment in
other ways. This leads to damaging of ecosystems. For our Senior Capstone Project we would
like to design a method that uses the bacteria alcanivorax borkumensis. The microbe is native
to all oceans and eats oil. Our goal is to find a way to increase their population and speed up
their process of consuming the oil. We plan to create some sort of spray that will work similarly
to chemical dispersants, but it will be much less harmful to the environment. We could also use
the existing method of sponges to soak up the oil, but infuse the bacteria into the sponges. This
will build on the success of microbes in cleaning the Macondo well disaster in 2010. In this spill,
microbes cleaned up millions of barrels of oil, but their performance was not perfect. They could
not eat some of the larger molecules, they took a long time, and they required nutrients such as
nitrogen and phosphorous to perform efficiently. We must find a way to make sure the bacteria
has all the nutrients it needs and can eat most or all of the molecules. One possible way is to
use genetically engineered bacteria that can produce its own nutrients, which was done in a
study in the Brazilian Journal of Microbiology. If this is possible for us, it would be a good way to
ensure the bacteria get the nutrients they need.
Objectives
1) Identify the engineering issue (oil pollution) & current product weaknesses, such as
damage current solutions do to the environment
2) Do extensive background research about the product and problem, including research
on environmental engineering and biotechnology
3) Specify requirements of the project, estimate figures (costs, dimensions, materials etc)
4) Design and evaluate project proposals and select the best solution (Spray? Sponges
soaked with bacteria?)
5) Identify project’s largest risks, develop a risk mitigation plan to help determine what to
prototype
6) Develop a prototype of the best product design
7) Test the prototype and survey the market/key customers
8) Analyze results and data of testing and surveys
9) If statistics show an unfavorable market/key customer response to the design:
a) Review information and project procedure
b) Make changes to improve the design
10) If statistics show a positive market/key customer response to the design:
a) Communicate results and officialize the final product
b) Patent the design if necessary
Our final goal for this project is to create a method of cleaning up oil spills that does minimal
damage to the environment. We will focus on creating something that does not leave harmful
waste behind and does minimal damage to the ecosystem. We would also like it to run on
renewable energy if possible, to give our project the smallest environmental footprint it can
have. Our main focus will be on the ecosystem immediately surrounding the spill, but we will
also try to improve our product’s overall sustainability and functionality. The final design should
be better for the environment than previous designs, and it should be more effective than
previous solutions as well. We would test it by creating a smaller, to scale prototype. We would
observe how quickly and efficiently it removes the oil from water.
Timeframe
The main costs for this project will be from materials. We plan on making a few prototypes of the
apparatus to ensure that the design is ideal. The most expensive aspect is the bacteria, which
costs about $300. We will also be testing other materials that will possibly be used, and we will
determine a final cost after we have done these tests.
● Research and study the problem: We will research the current solutions to oil spill
cleanup and how the oil spreads in the ocean. This background information will provide
insight on how to create the most effective and eco-friendly solution. We will put this
information on a padlet where it is easy to access and brainstorm.
● Identify gaps in current products
● Design system(s) that addresses the gaps in current products
● Identify largest risks (design, timing, market, environment, etc) and risk mitigation plan
(Test, Analyze, etc) with the system(s)’s design
● Design and execute experimental tests or analytical simulations to address risks
● Update system design/project based on outcome of tests/analysis
● Design: Our design will depend on our research. As of now our plan is to either create a
mechanism that sprays the bacteria or a ‘sponge’ that is infused with the bacteria so that
it will absorb and eat the oil. We will thoroughly test the designs to determine which
design is most effective.
● Prototyping: When we reach the prototyping stage we will have narrowed down our
design to one of the two options. We will design our prototype to minimize the gaps
found in our research and design phases. We will then test our prototype, analyze or
results, and then create a new prototype, adjusting it to better meet our needs based on
the data. We will keep testing until we have the most effective and environmentally
friendly design possible.
Chemical dispersants The chemicals released are Our spray’s ingredients will
harmful to the environment be natural and unharmful
Booms Does not actually remove oil The bacteria eats the oil
Key Personnel
Name Profession
Math Concepts: In our spray and/or bacteria solution, we will need to calculate ratios between
the bacteria and other ingredients. Math will also be used in our testing to determine efficiency
and public approval.
Chemistry concepts: We may have to use chemistry to determine and test the ingredients of the
spray/solution.
Biotechnology: The use of bacteria to eat oil links to biotech. We also may be using genetically
engineered bacteria.
We will be monitored by our mentor Matt Rodnick and our teacher Mr Tronconi. They will also
evaluate our progress and advise us. In June 2019, our final product will be presented to and
evaluated by industry professionals.
Approval Signatures