Easy diesel: Using hydrogen fuel to assist farmers

Discover some of the great ideas that were pitched at the 2020 Surat Basin Student Designathon!

Meet the ‘Easy diesel’ team

The team has many skills that were required for this project. Rhylie knew about engines and machinery, Lyhkan had the ideas and the research, Chantelle designed a model and had understanding of chemistry. Together they made a good team and managed to design a complicated mechanism in under 12 hours.

The problem

The team identified that one of our world’s greatest problems is the lack of resources and fossil fuels that we are able to use in our everyday lives.

“This poses a large struggle onto farmers through having a large economic strain due to diesel consumption from heavy machinery.”

Solution

The team created a reverse combustion chamber. It is essentially a mechanism that converts the hydrogen in water and the carbon from car exhaust into a fuel!

Market validation

The team talked to multiple local farmers and the average amount they spent on fuel was around $100,000-$300,000 annually. The product aimed to lower this by an estimated $1000-$5,000.

All of the people we asked said they would love to use their product.