Lei Pan (ChE) and Tinuade Ololade Folayan ’20 ’23 (M.S. Ph.D. Chemical Engineering) were mentioned by Argonne National Laboratory in a release announcing a new froth flotation method of separating individual cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries.
Robert Handler (ChE/GLRC), the principal investigator on a project, received a $262,537 research and development co-op joint agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service.
The project is titled “Evaluating the Sustainable Production of Engineered BioCarbon for Coal Combustion Residual (CCR) Remediation from Fuel Reduction Treatments in the Superior National Forest (SNF).”
This is a potential three-year project.
Chemical Engineering faculty member Lei Pan’s research on battery recycling and improving the sustainability of mining through the recovery of critical minerals continues to draw regional and national interest.
Pan was recently quoted in a Bridge Michigan article, “Michigan’s electric energy future could be wasting away in a junk drawer,” which focused on the impact that recycling old electronic devices could have on the critical mineral shortage. The article described critical mineral shortage as a “looming choke point” affecting the nation’s energy transition and Michigan’s electric vehicle industry.
The article also noted that Pan’s lab will expand its research through the opening of a testing facility in summer 2025 through $8.1 million awarded to Michigan Tech through the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
Lei Pan (ChE) was quoted by Interlochen Public Radio in a story about the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Critical Minerals Recycling Grant Program. The program will offer $4.75 million in matching grants for research projects focused on recycling critical minerals found in electric vehicle batteries and other technologies.
Pan was part of a team that partnered with Eagle Mine in the Upper Peninsula and was awarded a total of $10.6 million in federal dollars to research domestic battery recycling and reprocessing mine tailings.
“We’re definitely looking forward to new ideas and new innovation. Making sure that the battery recycling industry will become more sustainable in the future, and become more profitable.”
The EGLE Recycling Unit grant is to advance the research, development, or demonstration of concepts or projects intended to create innovative and practical approaches to increase the reuse and recycling of batteries and other critical minerals.
Pan’s research interests include particulate separation, surface chemistry, and process modeling.
Natalie Nold Takes First Place for Oral Presentation
Nold’s presentation was entitled “A Versatile Purification Method for Virus-based Gene Therapy.”
Presentation Extract
- The costly manufacturing methods used for viral vectors are a key reason why gene therapies can be prohibitively expensive, often costing over $1 million per patient treated.
- Our lab has developed a continuous purification method using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS), which combines product capture and purification by partitioning the viral product and contaminating host-cell impurities to different aqueous phases.
- ATPS holds promise as a viral vector purification platform with 66-100% overall product recovery for adeno-associated virus (AAV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), porcine parvovirus (PPV), and influenza B virus.
Graduate Research Colloquium 2024
Date: March 26, 2024
Time: 8 a.m.—9 p.m.
Location: Rozsa Center, MTU
March 26 (9 a.m.–3 p.m.) – Oral Presentations (MUB Alumni Lounge)
March 26 (5–8 p.m.) – Poster Presentations (Rosza Lobby)
Chemical Engineering at the Graduate Research Colloquium
Please attend the poster sessions to learn more from the graduate student presenters.
Sustainable Nickel Recovery from Ore and Mine Tailings Using CO2 and Microorganisms
Kwabena Boafo, Timothy C. Eisele
Abstract
- As the demand for nickel increases in EV batteries and steel manufacturing, the depletion of high-grade nickel ore prompts the mining industry to process low-grade nickel ore, resulting in the generation of significant mine waste, known as tailings.
- Despite the tailings containing valuable minerals and metals most times high metal content compared with original ore, they pose environmental and health risks.
- There is a growing interest in exploring methods to extract the valuable minerals and metals from the tailings.
- This study proposes a sustainable approach to extract nickel from ores and tailings, utilizing CO2 and microorganisms.
- Operating at freezing temperatures, bicarbonate ions are formed that effectively complex with nickel.
Aqueous Two-Phase Systems for Influenza Viral Vaccine Purification: A Promising Alternative
Taravat Sarvari, Elizaveta Korolkov, Natalie Nold, Lynn Manchester, and Caryn L. Heldt
Background and Motivation
Viral vaccine production is currently performed in batch mode.
Current Influenza vaccine production in eggs is antiquated, slow, and cannot produce a new strain of vaccine quickly.
Goal: Develop a platform for continuous purification of Influenza virus using aqueous two-phase systems (ATPS).
Prof. Pan in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Michigan Technological University is recruiting at least two PhD students in Fall 2024. These two positions will be fully funded through research grants/contracts for at least 3 years. The stipend for year 1 will be $24,000 (also subjected to inflation adjustment), and 100% tuition support ($27,702) will be provided to the candidate. In year 3, the stipend will raise to ~$30,000 at least.
The ideal candidates will be from engineering departments with some chemical processing, material characterization, mineral processing, and extractive metallurgy background. The team is particularly looking for candidates with a strong motivation to pursue their career in R&D or academia (professorship) in the field of chemical processing of critical minerals/materials, industrial decarbonation, and circular economy. PhD candidates are expected to submit their work to the top journals and present their work at both national and international conferences. Basic wet lab experience and good knowledge in general chemistry are the perquisite for the candidates.
PhD graduates and postdoc fellows from our team are working in the top-tier companies and universities in the field of chemical processing, mineral processing, and electronics processing. Their starting salary after PhD is in the range of $120K–$210K. Majority of PhD candidates will be able to finish their degrees within 4–5 years. Few of them finish their degree in 3.5 years. Other benefits from our team include 1) one paid trip to major conference in year 1–2 and two paid trip to major conferences in year 3-5, 2) annual 1.5–week winter leave and 2-week summer leave, 3) various professional development opportunities including some entrepreneurship trainings.
- The PhD candidate #1 will be working on chemical processing of lithium-containing resources. This candidate will be working on developing technologies in producing lithium chemicals from both primary and secondary resources and understanding the mechanisms for the process and unit operation used and developed by this candidate.
- The PhD candidate #2 will be working on developing industrial decarbonation solutions using the mineral carbonation technology. The candidate will be developing passive mineral carbonation technology and carbon quantification technology, as well as in-situ mineral carbonation.
- The PhD candidate #3 (still to be finalized) will be involved in developing circular economy solutions for electric vehicle (EV) Li-ion battery packs. This candidate will be working on developing technical solutions to dissemble and recover various materials from EV packs. Interest and expertise in mechanics and power electronics may be required.
If you have any questions and interest in joining us, please contact Dr. Pan at leipan@mtu.edu asap.
Natalie Nold is the recipient of the 2023 Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award for her outstanding work in the area of bioseparations. Nold is a Ph.D. student working in Caryn Heldt’s bioseparation lab.
The award was presented at the Separations Division Dinner at the AIChE Annual Meeting. The 2023 AIChE Annual Meeting was held on November 5–10 in Orlando, FL.
The Separations Division Graduate Student Research Award recognizes outstanding graduate students in the following areas:
- Distillation and Absorption
- Crystallization and Evaporation
- Extraction
- Membrane-Based Separations
- Adsorption and Ion Exchange
- Fluid-Particle Separations
- Bioseparations
Recipients receive a plaque and $200 for each award. For consideration a single paper must be submitted that contributes to separations fundamentals or applications. The paper must report on research, investigation or design, and must be part of the student’s work for a graduate degree.
The poster session took place on the third floor of the ChemSci building on October 20, with prizes for student organization, undergraduate research, and graduate research.
First Place Graduate Research: Hunter Stoddard, Microbial Community Forms Biofilm in Hybrid Chemical-Biological Upcycling Process
Second Place Graduate Research: Grace Dykstra, Low-cost, Stable, and Selective Synthetic biosensors for Lactate Detection
First Place Undergraduate Research: Prajeet Kadam, Quantifying Dielectrophoretic Responses of RAW 264.7 Macrophages: Baseline and LPS Activated Cells
Second Place Undergraduate Research: Morgan Redding, Low-cost, Stable, and Selective Synthetic biosensors for Lactate Detection
First Place Student Organization: Addymae Palecek, The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
Graduate Research
Poster #1
Optimization of water extraction conditions for removal of yeast inhibitory compounds from switchgrass
Authors: Iman Najafipour, Dr. Rebecca Ong
Abstract: Drought-stressed switchgrass, a potential bioenergy feedstock, often exhibits elevated yeast inhibitor. Effective removal of inhibitory compounds enhances sugar conversion to bioethanol, maximizing energy production, yield, and cost-efficiency. The objective is to optimize Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) for efficient yeast inhibitor extraction, thereby increasing yield while minimizing water consumption. The impact of temperature (A), time (B), and extraction cycles (C) on the extracted mass was investigated using a Box-Behnken model. A, B, C, AB, BC, and CC terms influenced the extraction, aligning well with experimental data. This ongoing project examines how extraction conditions affect yeast inhibition, and fermentation.
Poster #2: First Place Graduate Research
Microbial Community Forms Biofilm in Hybrid Chemical-Biological Upcycling Process
Authors: Hunter Stoddard, Dr. Rebecca Ong
Abstract: Biofilms can form on process equipment and make harvest of the cell biomass challenging. In this study, a microbial consortium was grown on products from pyrolysis and from depolymerization using ammonium hydroxide. Bioreactor conditions were varied to determine the highest production of biomass and the proportion of biomass as a biofilm. It was determined that the most biomass was produced at 30°C, pH 7, 100 rpm agitation, and 10 sL/h airflow. Reducing temperature and increasing aeration had the largest impact on biofilm formation where the percentage of biomass that was attached as biofilm was 20.8% at 30°C and 27.8% at 10 sL/h airflow.
Poster #3
Prediction of ex-situ Direct Carbonation of Natural Minerals using Machine Learning Algorithms
Authors: William Hanson, Dr. Lei Pan
Abstract: Mineral carbonation is a carbon fixation method in which the atmospheric CO2 reacts with alkaline oxide/silicate minerals to form carbonate minerals. In this work, mineral carbonation efficiency for the direct carbonation of various natural silicate minerals was investigated. In addition, carbonation efficiency was modeled using machine learning techniques including gradient boost, random forest, artificial neural network, K-nearest neighbor, and self-building neural network. Among models tested, gradient boost had the lowest error while artificial neural networks had the highest error. The present result is to ensure that industrial-scale carbonation operations will be optimally designed.
Poster #4
Investigating thermal stabilization of porcine parvovirus by sugars and amino acids
Authors: Idris Tohidian, Lynn Manchester, Rohan Chaudhari, Dr. Caryn Heldt
Abstract: Developing thermostable vaccines not only reduces vaccination cost, but also increases their widespread distribution all over the world. To achieve this goal, we focused on unravelling the stabilization ability of four sugars and five amino acids frequently used as additives in biotherapeutic formulations today. Both dry and liquid formulations were explored. The results showed good stabilization effect of sugars in liquid and dry formulations, but the amino acids were able to stabilize porcine parvovirus only in the dry state.
Poster #5: Second Place Graduate Research
Low-cost, Stable, and Selective Synthetic biosensors for Lactate Detection
Authors: Grace Dykstra, Dr. Yixin Liu
Abstract: High lactate levels can be a sign of lactic acidosis and is attributed to sepsis and septic shock, cardiac arrest, lung disease, and trauma within the body. Electropolymerized Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (eMIPs) can be used to develop biosensors with a molecularly imprinted cavity as their recognition element, with major advantages of low-cost, quick fabrication, inherent selectivity, and stability. We can further enhance eMIPs with Prussian blue (PB) nanoparticles deposited on the electrode surface as a redox-active species to create label-free biosensors for lactate detection with a one-step detection.
Undergraduate Research
Poster #6: Second Place Undergraduate Research
Scaling Down High-Solids Enzymatic Hydrolysis to Increase Sample Throughput
Authors: Morgan Redding, Mikayla Marshalek, Andrea Senyk, Dr. Rebecca Ong
Abstract: One approach toward biofuel production requires lignocellulosic biomass to undergo high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis to convert cell wall carbohydrates into fermentable sugars. However, our current process suffers from bottlenecks in sample throughput, limiting the types of experiments we can perform. To overcome bottlenecks in solids separation, enzymatic hydrolysis will be scaled down from 32 mL hydrolysate volume to ~4–10 mL volume to allow for higher speed processing in microcentrifuge and avoid time consuming vacuum filtration. The new enzymatic hydrolysis procedure will be coupled with a revised pretreatment and microplate fermentation to enable higher throughput processing and analysis of diverse lignocellulosic feedstocks.
Poster #7: First Place Undergraduate Research
Quantifying Dielectrophoretic Responses of RAW 264.7 Macrophages: Baseline and LPS Activated Cells
Authors: Prajeet Kadam, Juan Cruz-Moreno, Holly Flores, Nick Peterson, Roger Guillory, Zainab Alshoug, Dr. Adrienne R. Minerick
Abstract: Macrophages are critical effector immune cells that eliminate diseased or damaged cells based on their nascent or activation state (induced via lipopolysaccharide, LPS). Dielectrophoretic (DEP) tools induce cellular charges that probe RAW 264.7 macrophages in baseline and LPS-stimulated states by observing changes in cell morphology and quantifying DEP spectra. This provides insights into cell membrane capacitance, conductivity, and polarizability. A custom-designed microfluidic device precisely controls and monitors the cell during DEP experiments, revealing altered cell morphology, stronger DEP responses at higher voltages, and distinctive responses in LPS-activated macrophages at lower frequencies.
Student Organization
Poster #8: First Place Student Organization, Presenter Addymae Palecek
The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
Authors: Addymae Palecek, Alicia Hinman, Jeffrey Kennedy, Devin Spencer, Brandon Mitchell-Kiss, Jacqui Foreman, Allison Swanson, Danya Salame, Spencer Kaastra, Dr. Jeana Collins
Abstract: The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) develops the engineering students at MTU personally and professionally by offering them the opportunity to meet with industry representatives. This connection allows our members to learn about what they do in their role with the company, what their company does, and grow an authentic friendship. AIChE promotes the sharing of knowledge pertaining to the field of chemical engineering and sustainability. This organization has been involved actively in the community, participating in Make a Difference Day and more. AIChE is a Chem-E-Car sponsor; this is a competition where students design a chemical reaction-driven car and compete with other schools at both regional and national levels.
Ph.D. student Kobina Akyea Ofori (chemical engineering) is currently representing Michigan Tech and the Department of Chemical Engineering during a four-day intense training session in Baltimore, Maryland, as part of the MINER BOOST research program and featuring tons of information and socialization opportunities.
MINER BOOST (Mining Innovations for Negative Emissions Resources – Business Orientation and Origination of Spinouts Training) is organized by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), specifically ARPA-E (the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy), under Douglas Wicks, the program director for waste-to-energy projects.
The program caters to graduate students, stakeholders and investors, and aims to address the absence of a vibrant mining and mineral processing start-up community. It seeks to:
- Create a community of mining and mineral processing innovators by bringing together students and postdocs from academic groups within the MINER program.
- Teach participants practical skills related to pitching, networking and company building.
- Develop case studies evaluating the commercial potential of current projects students and postdocs are working on within the MINER program.
Ofori expressed his enthusiasm about the journey thus far, stating, “The experience has been incredibly exciting!”
Caryn Heldt (ChE/HRI) was quoted in a WZMQ 19 News story featuring a sneak peek at the new H-STEM Engineering and Health Technologies Complex, which is scheduled for partial opening in the spring 2024 semester.
“Not only can the students see what’s going on but they can kind of get more involved cause they see it. The other really exciting part from a faculty point of view is to have a place where research is being done from a subject basis.”
Read more and watch the video at WZMQ 19 News, by Mitchell Rife.
