Category: Research

Several Michigan Tech faculty members will be on hand this week at a forum in Iron Mountain to discuss the future of the paper industry.

The Kraft Lignin Innovation Forum takes place Wednesday and Thursday (Oct. 11/12, 2017) at the Verso Quinnesec Mill, just outside of Iron Mountain.  The event is coordinated by the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute (MIFBI). Mark Rudnicki (SFRES), executive director of MIFBI, says the forum intends to bring researchers and companies from across Michigan, and beyond, to learn first hand the availability and opportunities surrounding residual black liquor from Michigan’s largest pulp producer.

Among the Tech faculty presenting are Rebecca Ong (ChE), David Shonnard (ChE), Michael Mullins (ChE), Xingeng Xie (SFRES) and Wen Zhou (ChE).

For more information and for a complete schedule of the conference, visit here.

Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering Rebecca G. Ong is named in a proposal for the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. The center is one of four to receive part of the estimated $40 million in Department of Energy awards.

DOE SELECTS GREAT LAKES BIOENERGY RESEARCH CENTER FOR NEXT-PHASE FUNDING

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) for an additional five years of funding to develop sustainable alternatives to transportation fuels and products currently derived from petroleum. The past recipient of roughly $267 million in DOE funding, the GLBRC represents the largest federal grant ever awarded to UW–Madison.

Established by the Biological and Environmental Research program in DOE’s Office of Science in 2007, GLBRC is based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison’s Wisconsin Energy Institute and includes a major partnership with Michigan State University (MSU).

Read more at GLBRC News, by Krista Eastman.

Department of Energy Provides $40 Million for 4 DOE Bioenergy Research Centers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry today announced $40 million in Department of Energy awards for the establishment of four DOE Bioenergy Research Centers (BRCs), which will provide the scientific breakthroughs for a new generation of sustainable, cost-effective bioproducts and bioenergy.

The centers—each led by a DOE National Laboratory or a top university—are designed to lay the scientific groundwork for a new bio-based economy that promises to yield a range of important new products and fuels derived directly from nonfood biomass. Initial funding for the four centers will total $40 million for FY 2018, with plans for a total of five years of funding.

Read more at DOE News.

Julia King (ChE) and Joshua Pearce (MSE/ECE) along with alumni, John Laureto (MSE) and Julie Tomasi (ChE) published Thermal properties of 3-D printed polylactic acid-metal composites in Progress in Additive Manufacturing.

DOI 10.1007/s40964-017-0019-x

Michigan Technological University is one of 85 partners in a US Department of Energy-funded $70 million energy-saving project called the REMADE (Reducing Embodied-energy and Decreasing Emissions) Institute.

The project’s goal is to drive down the cost of technologies needed to reuse, recycle and remanufacture materials such as metals, fibers, polymers and electronic waste.  Ultimately REMADE hopes to achieve a 50 percent improvement in overall energy efficiency by 2027.

Read more at Michigan Tech News, by Jennifer Donovan.

TechCentury, an engineering and technology news website published by the Engineering Society of Detroit, reported on research into vitamins and tears, by Maryam Khaksari and Adrienne Minerick (ChemEng). Read the story here.

In the News

Vitamins in tears may be an alternative to invasive bloodwork demonstrated by research led by Adrienne Minerick (ChE, CoE) and Maryam Khaksari (ChE, ChARM Lab).

Several science news outlets covered the story including Fit Pregnancy and Baby, TechCentury and Counsel & Heal. A number of science blogs also picked up the story: Bioscience Technology, BioSpace, Bionity.com and ScienMag.

Several more science news outlets covered the story including a Q&A on MedicalResearch.com, Lab Manager Magazine, NutraIngredients and an article in the French magazine Parents and Italian magazine Corrierre. A number of science blogs picked up the story in Italian, English and French.

Digital Journal reported on a $4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to LanzaTech to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3M gallons/year of low carbon jet and diesel fuels. Michigan Tech’s Sustainable Futures Institute will help them evaluate the environmental footprint of the fuel produced.

LanzaTech Awarded $4M from DOE for Low Carbon Jet & Diesel Demonstration Facility

CHICAGO, IL–(Marketwired – Dec 30, 2016) – Carbon recycling company, LanzaTech, has been selected by the Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) to receive a $4M award to design and plan a demonstration-scale facility using industrial off gases to produce 3M gallons/year of low carbon jet and diesel fuels.

Professor David Shonnard, Director, Sustainable Futures Institute, Michigan Technological University:

The Michigan Tech Sustainable Futures Institute is excited to continue our relationship with LanzaTech, helping them innovate and develop products that meet environmental goals in addition to technical and economic targets.

Read more at Digital Journal.

Wen Zhou (ChE/SFI) is the principal investigator on a project that has received a $310,716 research and development grant from the National Science Foundation.

David Shonnard (ChE) is the Co-PI on the project “SusChEM: Integrated Studies on Interactions between Lignocellulosic Fine Structure and Hydrolytic Enzymes toward Efficient Hydrolysis.” This is a three-year project.

From Tech Today.