This is a model for a centralized hub to accumulate student transportation emissions data. The goal is to inform the populace of the carbon footprint that their transportation choices leave, while providing other greener alternatives to choose from.
Category: Graduate
(GR2) Experimental Study of Drying of Paper with Ultrasound Mechanism
Drying is the most energy intensive process in paper drying. In this project, the goal is to develop a new drying technology using ultrasound mechanism for paper drying. This technology reduces the energy consumption in paper drying significantly.
(GR3) Hydrothermal liquefaction of solvent-fractionated lignin for aromatic monomer production
Lignin is a natural aromatic biomacromolecule that exists as the second most abundant polymer. Its phenolic structure makes it a potential renewable source for organic compounds, especially those containing electron rich aromatic rings. However, valorizing lignin has presented a huge challenge owing to its recalcitrant nature. Co-solvent enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation (CELF) is an advanced biomass pretreatment technique that gives us a clean lignin byproduct. Depolymerizing CELF lignin via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), which is a green wet-based thermochemical conversion technique, produces aromatic hydrocarbon-rich biocrude or phenolic monomer chemicals. Hardwood derived CELF lignin yields approximately 52wt% of biocrude with valuable monomers like guaiacol, syringol, creosol, butylated hydroxytoluene, etc. Further processing and upgrading of biocrude could lead to production of usable biofuels.
(GR4) The Path Towards Fossil Fuel Disruption: Predicting Biofuel Costs with a Single Experiment and Thirty Seconds
Our current response to climate change has been through broad-spectrum electrification, as seen in electric vehicles, through the use of energy storage technology. However, to enable the long-distance travel required for freighting and aviation, the energy density of hydrocarbon fuels have yet to be beaten. We can leverage organic wet wastes to produce renewable, low carbon intensity biofuels using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL).
(GR5) Machine Learning for Materials Informatics
MXenes are a hot topic in materials science research because of their expected unique properties and myriad applications, such as more efficient energy conversion in batteries and solar cells, environmental and water treatment, and many additional applications. This project aims to produce Machine Learning (ML) models that accurately predict certain MXene properties – like electrical conductivity, work function, carrier density, mobility, life-time, and sensitivity to disorder – based on standard elemental information (e.g., electronegativity of each constituent element of the MXene, atomic mass of a MXene molecule, etc.), with training data found from literature as well as data produced by our project’s Density Functional Theory (DFT) team.
(GR6) Reducing Carbon Footprint of Energy-Intensive Industrial Drying by Novel Drying Methods
Manufacturing food, paper, and pharmaceutical products require energy-intensive drying processes. Novel drying methods can be used to decrease the use of energy and carbon emission of drying.
(GR7) Gravity-Driven Multiple Effect Thermal System (G-METS) Distillation for Efficient Low-Cost Magnesium Refining
The process of multiple effect distillation for the recycling of magnesium can both increase efficiency and reduce cost by up to 90% when compared to batch distillation refinement. This presentation will detail goals and applications of a novel continuous gravity-driven multiple effect thermal system (G-METS) distillation process for magnesium alloys.
(GR8) Design of a Molten Salt Metal-Air Battery with High-Energy Density
Decarbonization of long-haul transportation i.e. ships and trains is among the toughest challenges toward eliminating greenhouse emissions, but metal-air batteries have extraordinary potential to meet this challenge. This talk will present experimental and modeling results for a novel molten salt magnesium-air battery with a MgCl‚-NaCl-KCl-MgO electrolyte operating at 420-620°C. O² dissolves at the cathodes and Mg² at solid magnesium anodes. Experimental results show 1.9 V open circuit voltage, which is the highest to date for an Mg-air battery. Modeling shows up to 0.5 W/cm² at 80% efficiency or 3.3 W/cm² at 42% efficiency. Directional solidification removes MgO reaction product from the molten salt electrolyte. The stability of the cathode material is another criterion for this fuel cell. This battery has the potential for 30-40 times the energy of lithium-ion batteries at very high efficiency, and its Mg anode and molten salt materials are abundant in seawater.
(GR9) Rare Earth Metal Recycling Using a Novel, Low-cost Distillation Technology
We are perfecting a technology that will extract rare earth metals from magnet scrap because rare earth metals are in short supply in the United States. 95% of rare earth metal production is carried out in China, and right now, there are no U.S. producers. The only non-Chinese producers are Estonia, Vietnam, and Thailand- a small market.
We are looking to build a start-up in the U.S. to fill the vacuum, and part of our research is to prove that out.
(GR10) Self-healing Concrete and Enzymatic Construction Material
We have developed three different applications that will have an extraordinary impact on worldwide concrete consumption and emissions.