The Sika Experience

Sompol Sutharasantic from Thailand and Yaobo Ding from China have been the lucky winners of our second experience trip. They took part in your competition and knew the right answers to our questions.

All of you who had the right answers as well, don’t be disappointed and try your luck in one of the upcoming projects. Our selection process in not only based on the correct answers but also depends on the fact if the CV of the applicant matches the project and if the motivation letter was convincing.

We herby would like to present to you the correct answers of the three questions related to “mobility”.

Question 1: A car manufacturer is designing a new car. With the clever combination of different materials, the weight can be reduced by 150 kg. What mass of CO2 -emissions per km can be avoided with this weight reduction?

1: 9.7 g CO2 /km

2: 8.6 g CO2 /km

3: 7.3 g CO2 /km

Assumptions:

The reduction of a car’s weight by 100 kg leads to a reduction in fuel consumption by 0.3 liters per 100 km.

It is assumed that the fuel is pure octane. The burning of the fuel can be approximated by the following formula: 2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 18 H2O + 16 CO2.

The density of octane is 700g/liter.

Solution 1: The molar mass of octane is 114g/mol, the molar mass of CO2 is 44g/mol.

For each molecule of octane, eight molecules of CO2 are formed.

1 liter of octane contains an amount of substance of: 700 g / 114 g/mol = 6.14 mol

This leads to the formation of 49.12 moles of CO2 or 2’161.4 g of CO2.

With a weight reduction of 150 kg, 0.45 liters per 100 km fuel can be saved.

The reduction of CO2 is 0.45 x 2’161.4 = 972.6 g CO2 per 100 km or 9.7 g CO2 /km.

Question 2: At the heart of the new transalpine rail route is the Gotthard Base Tunnel. With a length of 57 km, the world’s longest tunnel should become operational at the end of 2017. The new Gotthard railway along with other improvements like new rolling stock will bring much shorter journey times. Today the travel time between Zurich and Milan by train is 3 hours and 40 minutes. What reduction in travel time is expected with the new railway on this track?

1: 30 minutes

2: 1 hour

3: 1 hour and 20 minutes

Solution 2: The new Gotthard railway, along with other improvements like new rolling stock will bring much shorter journey times. The 3 hours and 40 minutes needed now to travel from Zurich to Milan through the Gotthard on the Cisalpino tilting train will be cut to 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Question 3: Estimate the savings of water possible with Sika admixtures during the construction of the Gotthard Base Tunnel and compare it to the annual consumption of a person living in Switzerland.

1: 2,000 persons

2: 12,000 persons

3: 20,000 persons

Tips: An average value for water reduction with admixtures at the Gotthard project is 20%. Without admixtures a cubic meter of concrete needs about 210 – 270 liters of water. Until the tunnel becomes operational at the end of 2017, about 2.5 Mio cubic meters of concrete will have been produced for the project. The average water consumption of a person living in Switzerland is 162 liters/day.

Solution 3: The average savings of water are: 240 L x 20% x 2.5 Mio = 120 Mio. liters.

In one year a person consumes 59,130 liters of water. The water savings correspond roughly to the annual consumption of 2,000 persons.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming the new participants in Sika Zurich!