EVERETT — Little did they suspect they would be delving so deep into math, chemistry and engineering.
For several months, four students in Brent Delfel’s diesel power technology class at the Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center have been researching and experimenting with ways to make diesel exhaust cleaner.
It’s a far cry from what they’d envisioned when they signed up for the course.
“At the beginning of the year, we never thought that we would be doing something like this that is important for the environment and society,” said Zackary Hickey, who split time during his senior year between the skills center in south Everett and Arlington High School.
“Now we actually think about the environmental side,” said Joseph Neil, a South Whidbey High School senior who attends Sno-Isle.
For Delfel, it’s a sign of changing times. A quarter century ago he attended diesel classes he now teaches at the technical school.
Since then, tougher standards have made for more sophisticated emissions systems. All heavy-duty diesel truck engines produced in recent years must meet new Environmental Protection Agency standards in reducing particulates and nitrogen oxides. That’s resulted in less air pollution and fewer health risks.
New off-road machinery, such as construction and agricultural equipment, also are subject to emission standards requiring similar reductions.
In other words, the days of belching black smoke from the tailpipe are numbered as older diesel vehicles are phased out.
Last month, the PACCAR Technical Center donated to the Sno-Isle class an exhaust treatment system weighing several hundred pounds for up-close and hands-on study.
That delighted Ian Fujinaka, a home-schooled junior from Arlington, who heads up the student team. Fujinaka said he has come to realize that even tiny improvements in technology can have massive effects on the environment. He’s interested in the diagnostics end of the trade, learning how to develop the new technologies that can make a difference.
“He is doing some amazing work with the technology that keeps diesel engines running clean,” Delfel said. “It has been amazing to watch him grow as a result of this project. He will likely be the next engineer who designs something that makes our world a better place to live.”
Each student brought a skill set.
Fujinaka was the math whiz with a knack for deciphering and explaining technical manuals.
Nicholas Jamieson, a home-schooled senior from Marysville, brings extensive work experience. He heads off to a national diesel power technology competition in Louisville, Kentucky, later this month and has earned a scholarship to the Universal Technical Institute in Arizona next fall.
Neil is the parts guy. Even when he missed class one day because of illness, his classmates called him to ask about a particular part. He’ll soon be off to WyoTech in Wyoming to study diesel machines.
Hickey brings a strong general knowledge of how things work. He’s landed a summer job working for the city of Lynnwood’s water treatment plant. He sees parallels between cleaning exhaust emissions and making sure water is safe to drink.
The group has been studying what is known as selective catalyst reduction. It’s an emissions control technology that injects automotive-grade urea, also known as Diesel Exhaust Fluid, through a special catalyst into the exhaust stream of a diesel engine. The urea sets off a chemical reaction converting nitrogen oxides into nitrogen, water and tiny amounts of carbon dioxide that go through the tailpipe.
The students aren’t just learning about how it works. They’re experimenting with different concentrations of urea and deionized water to see if it makes a long-term difference in diesel truck emissions. They’ve also converted the urea from liquid into a solid and back into liquid with the intention of testing its effectiveness. Jamieson finds the changes in diesel emissions remarkable.
“You go from trucks in the 1980s and ’90s spewing smoke to now when you have a 2015 truck and you can hardly smell it,” he said.
Next year, Delfel wants his students to take their knowledge to local middle schools to show how using technology can improve the world around them.
He also would like Fujinaka to speak to a conference of high school and college instructors about what he has learned and how he hopes to apply that knowledge.
“It’s these fresh minds that are going to see things in a different light,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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