By Susan Bromley
Staff Writer
Brandon Twp.- Jessica Laviolette is working on a process she says will revolutionize America’s fuel.
The Brandon High School senior was chosen last month as one of 300 semi-finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search, the oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition in the United States, for her research on a novel way to produce ethanol.
‘It’s the biggest science competition you can be in for a high school student,? says Laviolette, 18. ‘It’s like the high school equivalent of the Nobel Prize.?
The Citizen first reported on Laviolette last March when she won the grand prize and seven other top awards in the Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit, with her entry Rapid Production of Ethanol by Vacuum Process. Her prizes have net her several thousand dollars.
Laviolette then won the grand prize at the 2005 Michigan Science Fair in a busy year that also included a summer semester at Harvard University and work on getting her process patented.
The inspiration for her project came from both a section on ethanol she read in her advanced placement biology textbook, as well as her family.
Laviolette’s father previously worked as a director of North American Manufacturing and has a background in vacuum processing.
‘I used to play with vacuums he brought home, that’s where I got the idea,? said Laviolette, noting that scientific vacuums have been used to freeze-dry food, as well as make pharmaceuticals and biological warfare weapons.
It was November 2004 when Laviolette began experimenting with the vacuums and ethanol, which is made from a type of yeast. In traditional forms such as wine-making, oxygen is present. Sometimes the yeast goes through cellular respiration instead of alcoholic fermentation, making ethanol production only partially efficient. Laviolette says she ‘strung together a whole bunch of scientific principles? using special membranes and removing all oxygen through vacuum processing to increase ethanol production efficiency and concentration before distillation. She achieved 100-percent ethanol production through trial and error over the course of two months and was able to make the same amount of ethanol in two days that would be achieved after a week in the traditional form.
Laviolette notes that ethanol is one of the cleanest fuels available, but is expensive to make because it is not produced efficiently. She is planning to enter this year’s science fair with a cost comparison analysis of using ethanol with her process, versus using gasoline.
Laviolette says the cost-effectiveness looks great and she is working with Archer Daniels Midland Company, one of America’s leading producers of ethanol. ADM has provided Laviolette with what she calls ‘cool equipment,? including a membrane, gentically modified organism yeast, dextrose and packaging to send samples to them.
‘I’m really excited,? says Laviolette, who wants to be a dermatologist one day. ‘Ortonville needs to kick it up and participate in science and science fairs, because it can pay for college.?