UB students monitor carcinogens released from school buses
by JILL SCHMELZER Ken-Ton Editor

Students from the University at Buffalo's Chapter of Engineering for a Sustainable World have been monitoring buses from seven school districts this past week, including Ken-Ton.

The state Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Erie County school districts a grant to retrofit existing buses to include pieces of equipment that will lower the levels of carcinogens emitted into the environment.

According to Thomas Hersey Jr. of the Erie County Department of Environment and Planning, the purpose of the study is to measure the amount of carcinogens released into the air from the exhaust pipe before the improvements and then again after the equipment is installed.

The grant will include more than 150 buses at a cost of approximately $3,000 each to install the crank case filter and catalytic converter. The total cost needed for each bus may vary depending on the make and year, because some already have one of the pieces needed to filter the carcinogens, Hersey said.

The UB students have been measuring particles and heavy metals released from the exhaust from different buses and school districts daily.

Adam Blair, one of UB's environmental engineering students, said the team of four have kept data on revolutions per minute, pressure and engine temperature, but the analysis will not be completed until the end of the first part of the study.

"We picked buses with different years and engines - some have the engines in the front and others in the back," said Siddhesh Prasad, one of the UB students.

The buses continue to conduct everyday duties of transporting students from home to school and back. The future environmental engineers take up two of the bus seats for a computer and wire hookups from the exhaust and engine.

The students work two at a time. Prasad said one person measures the aircuity, which collects data from inside the cabin and the tail pipe, and the other installs the devices and makes sure everything is working properly.

Other people assisting with the study include Mike Dio, an environmental engineer from cleanAIR Technologies International Inc., and Susan Cronin, a UB engineering student.

Dio taught the UB students to install the equipment and is available to assist when needed.

e-mail: JSchmelzer@beenews.com