Dalia Habib
7th Grade, Challenger School – Salt Lake
Salt Lake City, UT
Dalia loves going to farm festivals, and corn mazes are her favorite part. But she did wonder what happened after the farm festival was over. “I always questioned if there is a way to better use all of the wasted pumpkins, apples and corn,” she says. “If it can be recycled to help our planet or solve hunger problems in the world.” In reading up about waste, she learned about efforts to create efficient biofuels out of biomass that people can’t use. Dalia decided to use an enzyme to help break down biomass into alcohol-based biofuel.
Biomass to Biofuel
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Project Background
Dalia wanted to test the enzyme cellulase, an enzyme that can break down the cellulose in plants. She tested seven different types of plant matter: sugar cane, corn kernels, corn stover (the stalks and leaves of corn plants), grass, sawdust, straw and maple tree leaves. She ground up each type of biomass, then added cellulase and yeast to convert the sugars to ethanol.
Dalia showed that cellulase could double or even quadruple the ethanol the plants produced compared to the control. Those with high sugar (sugar cane, corn and corn stover) had the highest ethanol yield, while grass, sawdust, straw and maple tree leaves had the lowest. “The process is not cost efficient,” she says. “However, during emergencies and as the prices of fossil fuels increase and the stored amounts of energy deplete, it can be an alternative source of energy.”
Beyond the Project
Dalia loves to dance, especially hip hop and jazz. “I find delight in learning numerous choreographies and practicing them in my room, often dedicating hours to practice dance,” she says. Dalia also loves languages and is trying to become fluent in both Arabic and Japanese. She recently took up pottery and finds it both relaxing and challenging. Dalia would like to become an environmental engineer. “I aspire to address environmental challenges, promoting sustainability and enhancing human well-being on a global scale,” she says.
