brought to you by:Dan Galel, Nick Helinski, Alicia Lin,

Alex Morein, J.P. Tuttle, and Ashley Weber

PDI Studio II May 6, 2008

The Problem Makes up a very large

amount of waste in terms of volume

Styrofoam does not degrade

Styrofoam costs $2,000 a ton to recycle

Needs

The Market

Material Testing Replacing blister packs Drop tests in Sage Possible Materials• Rice Hulls• Corn Husks• Puffed rice

More Material Testing Drop Tests Results

Models/Iterations Soft Models• Corn Cakes• Rice Hull Mixture

Working Model• Rice Hull Mixture

Experiments Orthogonal Arrays to

test parameters 8 different mixtures

changing• Flour level• Drying method• Baking soda/vinegar• Corn Syrup

Measuring the Results Measured Density • Weight• Water displacement

D = m/v

Comparable to Styrofoam

Data

No. FlourDrying Process

Baking Soda/Vineg

ar Corn Syrup

1 Level 1 air dry YES YES

2 Level 1 air dry YES no

3 Level 1microwav

e no YES

4 Level 1microwav

e no no

5 Level 2 air dry no YES

6 Level 2 air dry no no

7 Level 2microwav

e YES YES

8 Level 2microwav

e YES no

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Styr

ofoa

m

Rice Cak

es

Puffed

Rice

0.000.050.100.150.200.250.300.350.400.450.50

Styrofoam MaxStyrofoam MinSeries1

Experiment Number

Dens

ity (g

/cm

^3)

Final Tests Last Drop Tests• All eggs survived

Our Product Lightweight Packaging Sturdy and Durable Variety of Applications Customizable Give Inexpensive 100% Organic Created with Waste Products Easy to produce Decomposes with addition of

water Environmentally Safe

Feasibility 100,000,000 + metric tons of Rice

Hulls produced annually Main Rice Hull mills in Louisiana,

Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida and California

Do not burn easily, therefore are hard to dispose of and considered waste

Although it is organic, been thoroughly tested and determined Less than 3.23% moisture, much

less needed to grow mold or fungi 28 days fungi free test without

use of fungicides or chemicals Does not corrode aluminum,

copper, or steel

CAD Models

Designed packaging for USB number pad

Cost $954 to rapid prototype No access to CNC Mill Mold by Hand

Production Automated production could

follow the same method we are using – there are industrial microwaves.

Costs Average ton costs $6 53 foot trailer can hold

24 tons of rice hulls and costs $15, $30, and $45 to move it 250,500, and 750 miles.

Possible transportation would raise $10.5 million for Rice industry and %15 million for transport companies.

Patent Research No direct competition

No similar patents using rice hulls

One other patent uses toxic chemicals

Conclusion

Very competitive with expanded polystyrene 0.109 g/cm3 compared to 0.025-0.2 g/cm3

Cost ratio of 6.92:1 Fully biodegradable