A University of Wyoming professor has received a $485,000 grant to explore a more economical way to produce ethanol.
Patrick Johnson, assistant professor in the UW College of Engineering and Applied Science Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, received the four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation with $50,000 in matching funds from the UW School of Energy Resources. The grant is through the 2007 North Central Sun Grant Regional Competitive Grant Program.
"Ethanol is gaining widespread attention as an alternative transportation fuel to reduce foreign dependence on oil and to mitigate total carbon emissions," he says. "However, major technological advances are necessary to achieve economical, large-scale production from biomass. This project seeks to improve the efficiency of the conversion of cellulosic biomass into ethanol."
The project involves developing recyclable biocatalysts for use in the process that converts cellulose into fermentable sugars for ethanol production.
"When producing ethanol from biomass, enzymes are approximately 40 percent of the total production cost," Johnson says. "So by recycling the enzymes that convert cellulose into sugars, the costs might be lowered."
Researchers will fabricate enzyme nanoparticles with a magnetic core along with enzymes immobilized on stimuli-responsive polymers -- substances composed of molecules with large molecular mass. Well known examples of polymers include plastics, DNA and proteins. Johnson explains that stimuli responsiveness allows the researchers to make polymers that will precipitate out of solution with a slight change in pH (a measure of acidity or alkalinity in a solution) or temperature.
"Responsive polymers can be precipitated out of solution after the reaction, again for recycling," Johnson says.
The project's other principal researchers are Youquing Shen, associate professor with the UW Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Song Jin, scientist with the Western Research Institute at UW.
Source: University of Wyoming
Related stories:
Case Western Reserve University gets $4 million to make 'smart nanoparticles'
The School of Medicine received $4 million in funding from the State of Ohio's Third Frontier Initiative for Targeted Nanoparticles for Imaging and Therapeutics (TNIP), which will support the development and commercialization of sub-atomic particles for the early detection of breast cancers and new therapies for hemophilia. Case Western Reserve University will work in collaboration with local companies Cleveland NanoCrystals, Copernicus Therapeutics, Inc., iMedd, Inc., and Ricera Biosciences, Inc. Principal investigator for TNIP is Pamela B. Davis, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics and senior associate dean for research at the School of Medicine.
Pioneering heart doctor Michael DeBakey dead at 99
(AP) -- Dr. Michael DeBakey, the world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered such now-common procedures as bypass surgery and invented a host of devices to help heart patients, has died. He was 99.
New antibiotic beats superbugs at their own game
The problem with antibiotics is that, eventually, bacteria outsmart them and become resistant. But by targeting the gene that confers such resistance, a new drug may be able to finally outwit them. Rockefeller University scientists tested the new drug, called Ceftobiprole, against some of the deadliest strains of multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, which are responsible for the great majority of staphylococcal infections worldwide, both in hospitals and in the community.
Growing use of nanomaterials spurs research to investigate possible downsides
Potential risks from the use of nanomaterials will be explored by three Arizona State University engineering faculty in a project supported by a $400,000 grant from the U.S.Department of Energy Office of Biological and Environmental Research.
Health researchers explore how to take interactive video games to the next level
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health has received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to explore how interactive digital games could be better designed to improve players' health.
Inexpensive roof vent could prevent billions of dollars in wind damage
Hurricanes often lift the roofs off buildings and expose them to havoc and damaging conditions, even after the worst of the wind has passed. A local roofer, Virginia Tech faculty members from architecture and engineering, and a graduate student have devised an inexpensive vent that can reduce roof uplift on buildings during high winds, even a hurricane.
Boy finds giant shark tooth
A 9-year-old Florida boy found a 5-inch-long fossil of an ancient shark tooth buried in the sand on an Egmont Key beach.
Impact of electronic personal health record on hypertension under study
Whether patients with an electronic handle on their health are more successful at beating one of the nation’s leading chronic diseases is under study.