Biofuel: the thrice winning formula of a Cambodian high school student

Phnom Penh (Cambodia). 28/01/2009: Sam Ang Manin, winner of an international science fair contest.©Vandy Rattana

Ka-set
http://cambodia.ka-set.info

By Ros Dina
05-05-2009

“I beat an American!” Sam Ang Manin, a 16-year-old Phnom Penh young girl, still cannot believe it: her project to produce biofuel based on jatropha oil won her a gold medal at the I-Sweeep 2009 international contest between budding scientists, when a similar project of a United States high school student was awarded “only” a silver medal. The young Cambodian has even more reasons to be proud since she has also received a scholarship and a special prize of a U.S. firm. She thereby did even better than a previous Cambodian prize winner, who had obtained a silver medal in the same category “Senior Energy” in this contest in 2008 for her coconut diesel.

Three wins
Thrice, Sam Ang Manin heard her name be called in the great room of the Conventional Hall of Houston, Texas, where the I-Sweeep contest, an international Olympiad on energy, engineering and environment which aim is to spot and reward budding scientific geniuses from all over the world. The young Cambodian first walked onto the podium when called by the jury of the University of Fatih, which granted her a full tuition scholarship for four years to study a science subject in the Turkish college. She was then called again to receive a gold medal in the category of new energies in the I-Sweeep contest – a medal coming with a cheque of 1,000 dollars. Finally, Manin won over a private company, Ege Construction, which was one of the event's sponsors and awarded her its special prize for “Innovative energy solutions.”

“When I received the first award, there was little clapping, because very few Cambodians were present,” the good student in a private high school of Phnom Penh says mischievously. “But when I was called again to receive my second and then my third prizes, everyone, including the participants from various countries, showed a lot of enthusiasm.” Indeed, a plethora of medals were given out in this contest (in Manin's “Senior Energy” category, eight other students received gold medals), but no other participant was honoured with three awards.

A hard worker
Back in Phnom Penh, Manin savours her victory even more as she nearly gave up less than two weeks before her departure for the capital of Texas. As much as she would spend entire nights working on her project, skip meals or go without any leisure time, it was pointless: her formula for a biofuel based on jatropha seeds did not work... Her mother, Heng Chanlida, a doctor in Phnom Penh, remembers that ten days before the contest, the young woman was on the verge of asking the cancellation of her registration. But Eureka! Her efforts eventually paid off, much to the relief of her parents... “I was working on this project for nearly three months and during all that time, I have been through both failures and victories,” says Manin, her eyes laughing behind discreet glasses. “The formulas I had found on the Internet were incomplete. I had to look for various elements here and there... To make my biofuel successful, I mixed together different formulas, I worked patiently and seriously, and I asked some advice to my chemistry professor at school.” The young scientist also made her own laboratory tools and devices, with help from her father and uncle.

If Manin could count on unfailing family support in Phnom Penh, the student defended on her own her project during the Texan Olympiad, next to 1,200 participants from 60 countries and no less than 216 jury members, representatives of universities and U.S. and foreign companies. For six hours, she remained at her stand, ready to give immediate answers to judges who wanted to interrogate her. “They would come and ask questions individually or in groups of two to four people,” she recalls with emotion, as if she was still there. “Each time, I had seven to ten minutes to present my project. Then, they would ask questions freely, for 20 to 30 minutes.”

A process smooth like oil
But for Manin, the hardest part was already over. “I was really confident because my project was very clear and precise. During the three months I spent doing research, I understood what failed as well as what worked,” she stresses. So, the student has no problem explaining in detail her biofuel recipe, which allows for the production of one litre for three kilograms of jatropha seeds. The whole process, which involves the transformation of seeds into oil, takes between three and five days, after which she obtains a solution that is still relatively viscous. She must dilute it with an equal amount of traditional diesel, as is often the case for oilseed biofuels (made from vegetable oils) in order to be used on a regular diesel engine. “If I have the opportunity to keep doing research on this, I hope to succeed in reducing the necessary amount of diesel [Editor's note: this amount usually represents 10 to 30% in this type of fuel].”

The young woman, who used to ask for stories of robots and strange worlds as a child, is now the pride and joy of her mother, thrilled that her daughter is celebrated for her intellect rather than “her jewellery and clothes.” She now says that she is ready to explore the world: she will pursue her studies abroad, either in Turkey or in the United States, but without forgetting Cambodia, which she wants to represent proudly outside of the Khmer Kindgom. She would also like her young compatriots to emulate her triple victory. “If we make no effort, we will never reach our goal,” she concludes sententiously.