Category: Research

Work by Rebecca Ong (ChE) and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University was highlighted by the Department of Energy, Biological and Environmental Research (BER).

The work compared experimental fuel yields from five different potential bioenergy feedstocks and determined that a lignocellulosic ethanol refinery could use a range of plant types without having a major impact on the amount of ethanol produced per acre.

Diverse Biofeedstocks Have High Ethanol Yields and Offer Biorefineries Flexibility

Evidence suggests that biorefineries can accept various feedstocks without negatively impacting the amount of ethanol produced per acre.

Refineries to convert biomass into fuels often rely on just one feedstock. If the refineries could accept more than one feedstock, it would greatly benefit refinery operation. Scientists at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center investigated how five different feedstocks affected process and field-scale ethanol yields.

Read more at the BER.

Lei Pan (ChE) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled “I-Corps: Non-Destructive Separation Technologies for Li-ion Battery Recycling.” This is a six-month project.

By Sponsored Programs.

Extract

The proposed innovation minimizes the use of raw materials from mining, enables the long-term material availability, stabilizes the supply chain, and reduces the life-cycle cost. Additionally, recycling Li-ion batteries using the proposed innovation generates zero secondary wastes and thus minimizes environmental footprint.

The proposed technology separates and recovers valuable materials while preserving their original functional integrity. The upcycled active battery materials can be reused in new Li-ion batteries. The proposed solution is much more energy efficient and cost effective compared to the existing processes, for which both processes involve a conversion of active cathode materials to metal alloys or metal ions in solution.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.

Lei Pan’s staff of chemical engineering college students had labored lengthy and arduous on their analysis undertaking, they usually had been completely satisfied simply to be exhibiting their outcomes on the Folks, Prosperity and the Planet (P3) competitors final April in Washington, DC. What they did not anticipate was to be mobbed by enthusiastic onlookers.

Read more at Junkies.tech, by Expo Tech News Junkie.

Robert Handler (ChE/SFI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $6,810 research and development contract with Marion Utilities. The project is “Environmental Life Cycle Assessment of MSW Gasification.”

By Sponsored Programs.

Love of plants and problem-solving drives bioenergy researcher Rebecca Ong

Growing up, Rebecca Ong was one of the youngest garden club enthusiasts in northern Michigan, a science-loving kid who accompanied her grandparents to club events like “growing great gardens” or “tulip time.” When she wasn’t tending the family garden, she was mucking about in nature, learning from parents who had both trained as foresters.

“My parents really instilled in me the importance of conservation,” says Ong, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at Michigan Technological University and researcher at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC). “From an early age, I had this idea of sustainability and the importance of finding sustainable sources of energy.”

Read more and watch the video at Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center News, by Krista Eastman.

New Funding

Rebecca Ong (ChE/SFI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $32,050 research and development grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison/Department of Energy. The project is titled “Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center.”

This is the first year of a potential five-year project totaling $1,316,434.

By Sponsored Programs.

We don’t know yet what caused the explosion and fires at the Superior, WI oil refinery. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB), an independent, non-regulatory federal agency, is investigating the incident and it could take weeks to months before the causes of this incident become public information.

What Andre Da Costa, Herbert H. Dow Chair in Chemical Process Safety at Michigan Technological University, says he can tell you is that incidents like this – with an uncontrolled release of energy and chemicals with the potential to cause injuries to the employees and the public, damage to the environment and to property – can be prevented by effective implementation of risk-based process safety principles.

Read more at DOE Science News Source.

Caryn Heldt (ChE) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $300,000 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation. The project is titled “Driving Forces in Aqueous Two-Phase Systems for Vaccine Development.” This is a three-year project totaling $300,000.

Extract

Worldwide, there is a need for less expensive vaccines. To achieve better vaccine coverage, vaccine production processes need to be low-cost and allow for continuous operation, which is not possible with current vaccine production technology. A primary objective of this project will be to explore aqueous two-phase systems (ATPSs) to fulfill the need for new viral particle purification processes that could reduce the cost of vaccines and be run as a continuous operation. ATPS could also reduce the development time for a new vaccine, allowing for pandemic vaccines to come to market sooner. In addition to vaccines, a better understanding of ATPS could aid in future cell separations for advanced cell therapeutics.

Read more at the National Science Foundation.