Project Summary | Project Information |
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Essential oils have been identified as an opportunistic agricultural commodity that can be produced and exported by farmers in Borgne, Haiti for a profit due to their high monetary value, ease of shipping, long shelf life, and Haiti’s suitable climate. These essential oils are traditionally produced using a distillation process that require costly fuels. Due to the current poor economic state in Haiti and high energy cost of traditional distillers, a solar-assisted, low-energy oil distiller would potentially help to produce a profit without heavily relying on nonrenewable resources. The goal of this project is to create a working home-scale prototype of this Essential Oil Distiller that serves as proof of concept demonstrating the economic feasibility of a large scale distiller. The end product should be essential oils extracted and ready for sale and transportation. For more information, see our Project Readiness Package Final System Design |
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Team Members
Member | Major | Role | Assigned Sub-System | Contact |
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Peter Coutts | Mechanical Engineer | Note Taker | Solar Tracker | pjc1574@rit.edu |
Nathan Johnson | Mechanical Engineer | Budget Keeper, Solid Modeling, Risk Mitigation | Plant Matter Container, Drip Feed | naj1375@rit.edu |
Bruno Moraes Quintava | Mechanical Engineer | Theoretical Analysis | Solar Trough | bxm9211@rit.edu |
Johnathon Wheaton | Industrial Systems Engineer | Project Leader, Scheduler, Solid Modeling | Gas Burner, PV Backup | jfw2637@rit.edu |
Benjamin Wolfe | Mechanical Engineer | EDGE Expert, Build and Test Lead | Condenser, Collector/Separator | baw5405@rit.edu |
Acknowledgements
Subject Matter Experts (SME's):- Dr. Stevens, RIT KGCOE
Guide/Customer:
- Sarah Brownell, RIT KGCOE
Others:
- Daniel Connell from SolarFlower.org for trough and tracker design and support
- Hart Swisher from Hammer Packaging for donation of aluminum lithographic printing plates
- Nan Martin from experience-essential-oils.com for helping understand the distillation process for vetiver.
Table of Contents
MSD I & II | MSD I | MSD II |
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