PULLMAN, Wash. – Imagine microorganisms that have the ability to respire, or breathe, electrons onto solid materials to create energy. And they can communicate with each other over long distances.

How is this possible?

Ryan Renslow, a Washington State University engineering Ph.D. candidate, hopes to find out.

He recently received the Linus Pauling Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash. He is researching electrochemically active communities of microorganisms, called biofilms, to discover the mechanism behind extracellular electron transfer and how this allows cell-to-cell and cell-to-mineral interactions in subsurface sediments.

Renslow is a graduate student with Haluk Beyenal, associate professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering. Renslow started doing research lab work at PNNL as a graduate student and completed a lab rotation there three years ago.

Research in this field has grown significantly in the last two decades, resulting in the identification of microorganisms that can create energy. Much of that research has turned to application of the energy output, but Renslow is interested in the fundamentals behind the process.

At PNNL, he will have access to research instruments and laboratories that use advanced technologies.

“I want to develop new scientific capabilities and integrate existing technologies and techniques already present at PNNL,” Renslow said. Current standard tools cannot provide the data needed to answer his research questions.

After completing work at PNNL, Renslow wants to become a professor or a research scientist, ultimately allowing him to stay in the field and continue conducting fundamental research.

According to the PNNL website, the Linus Pauling fellowship is aimed at “next generation scientists and engineers who will push the boundaries of science to world-recognized discoveries.”

The fellowship provides recipients full funding for their major research projects.

Renslow graduated from Central Valley High School in Spokane, Washington. Read this article at WSU News

Contacts:

Ryan Renslow, WSU College of Engineering and Architecture, 335-4332, rrenslow@wsu.edu
Tina Hilding, WSU College of Engineering and Architecture, 335-5593, thilding@wsu.edu

Last week Chemical Engineering PhD student Diwaker Rana won the “Best Oral Presentation” award in the 2012 William R. Wiley Research Exposition for the category of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Rana’s advisor is Dr. Birgitte Ahring. He will receive a $500 scholarship as part of the award. Below is Rana’s topic and an abstract of his presentation.

Softwood conversion to biofuels: Green chemistry solutions to the global problems

Two of the greatest global challenges that the mankind is facing today include energy crisis (due to depleting oil resources) and global warming (due to greenhouse gas emissions). One of the approaches to handle these issues is through the conversion of abundantly available biomass into green fuels. One of the potential feedstock is Softwood as this is an abundant biomass material found in large extent within United States. The higher lignin content and crystalline structure of cellulose makes the extraction of sugars from the Softwood difficult as has been researched previously. Present study focused on maximizing the sugars recovery from the Softwood for the ethanol production. The wet oxidation pretreatment was conducted in the presence of water and oxygen at temperatures (170°C to 210°C) with residence time 5 to 30 min. The pretreated samples were further hydrolyzed with enzymes for 72 hours. This study showed promising results in terms of higher sugars conversion (> 95%) and lower sugars degradation and toxic compounds. The proposed study will offer the cost-effective green chemistry solutions to the global problems.

RICHLAND, Wash. – Yesterday construction began on a $3 million, 13,000-square-foot laboratory at Washington State University Tri-Cities. The building is being funded by donations from EnergySolutions. It is expected to be completed by the summer of 2012. Read more about the project at WSU News ↗

Mix a senior chemical engineering student with some solid undergraduate research experience, good grades, and a passion for what she does, and you may not get a chemical reaction, but you will get a great candidate for a competitive internship program.

Kelly Fitzgerald has been selected as one of approximately 30 students in the U.S. to participate in the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)’s National Security Internship Program this summer.

PNNL, located in Richland, WA, is one of the Department of Energy’s ten national laboratories. The internship program provides the opportunity for students to participate in national security-related science. Fitzgerald will spend the summer working in the radio chemistry department, where she is expecting to work in computer modeling and electro-chemistry.

Fitzgerald learned about the internship from her chemistry professor, Sue Clark, and applied.

The two major benefits of the program are the possibility for tuition reimbursement and a great networking experience, she said.

Fitzgerald has been active in undergraduate research since her sophomore year, working in the lab with Clark, as well as with graduate and post-doctoral students.

“This really helped me get the internship because it gave me a lot of experience in a lab,” she said.

Fitzgerald hasn’t always been interested in chemical engineering, but her classes at WSU led her to her current career choice.

“My dad is a nuclear engineer, so I knew about engineering as an option early on,” she said. “I started out in bioengineering, but after taking two courses in chemical engineering, I realized I was much more interested in that.”

After completing her internship and her undergraduate studies, Fitzgerald is considering graduate school, possibly at WSU.

“I think I have the resources here where I could really excel in the program,” she said.

Although a little nervous about surviving the heat in the Tri-Cities all summer long, Fitzgerald said she is extremely excited for the internship.

“I’m excited to finally be in a work environment instead of just in the student role,” she said. “I can’t wait to do the work I’ve chosen as the career for the rest of my life.”

RICHLAND, Wash. – An innovative idea for making advanced biofuels such as jet fuel, diesel and gasoline from regional resources is moving forward with a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.

“This process will demonstrate the use of local biomass from our community and our farmers and it will answer questions across the state,” said Diahann Howard, Port of Benton economic development director. “It will also give more options locally to use waste for energy and not stockpile ag waste, which can create hazardous or unappealing situations.”

The team of WSU Tri-Cities, the Port of Benton, Clean-Vantage LLC and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will conduct the $1.5 million “BioChemCat” pilot project in the Bioproducts, Sciences, and Engineering Laboratory at Washington State University Tri-Cities under the leadership of Birgitte K. Ahring, Director of the WSU Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy and the Battelle Distinguished Professor.

BioChemCat refers to the biorefinery process which makes use of both biochemical and thermochemical processes for making biofuels and biochemicals.

“The concept is feedstock agnostic, it doesn’t really care what kind of biomass you use,” Ahring explained. “It can use all kind of feedstocks – municipal waste, vineyard waste, feedlot manure, woody material, ag waste like corn stalks, straw or corn cobs after the kernels have been removed. It could be implemented all over the world.”

The project is funded with a DOE grant to the Port of Benton of $951,000 plus $549,000 in matching funds. Ahring expects to have the first results by early fall.

The project includes other new twists on biofuels production, including:

• The waste can be wet — many biofuels processes first require that the waste be dried, which can be expensive and time consuming.
• The process can be operated in a spoke-and-hub manner, where the initial part of the process (the creation of distillates) is done in small-scale local facilities, while the final upgrading into advanced fuels is done in a few specialized hubs.
• Both parts of the process combine new break-through knowledge that allows for reducing the cost of the final fuel.
• This process is expected to be high-yield, for example, potentially making more than 70 gallons of jet fuel per ton of dry materials. This is much higher than other known processes.
• The process can be operated to produce either gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel depending on the needs. Therefore, it represents an example of producing “drop-in replacement fuel” for oil-based products.

“It’s really exciting because it’s a true Tri-City project,” Ahring said, noting the partnership includes a local company providing the overall concept, a university campus, the Port, a national laboratory setting up and operating the pilot facility, and the regional biomass materials that will be used. “We think we will be capable of demonstrating within two years that the BioChemCat process has major value.”

“The growth of the University leads to the growth of the Port,” Howard said. “This is exactly what we’re here to do.”

The BSEL building at WSU Tri-Cities is the core of the Center for Bioproducts and Bioenergy. The $24.8 million, 57,000-square-foot building opened in May 2008 in partnership with the State of Washington, Washington State University, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Half of the building, including the high bay, is occupied by PNNL research teams.

Another advantage of the BioChemCat research project is that it uses equipment purchased with the Washington State’s STAR researcher funding provided as part of the 2008–2009 recruitment package for Dr. Ahring.

WSU Tri-Cities is located along the scenic Columbia River in Richland, Wash. Established in 1989 with upper division and graduate programs, WSU Tri-Cities expanded in 2007 to a full four-year undergraduate campus offering 17 bachelor’s, 13 master’s, and seven doctoral degrees. Learn more about the most diverse campus in the WSU system at www.tricity.wsu.edu.

Professor Cornelius (Neil) Ivory has been named as the inaugural Paul Hohenschuh Distinguished Professor in the Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering.

The professorship, which was recently created by Paul Hohenschuh and Marjorie Winkler, was announced at the Voiland School’s spring advisory board meeting. The professorship is to be used to recruit and/or retain a world-class, internationally-recognized faculty member, providing annual funding support for materials, equipment, staff, graduate student salaries or other support that furthers his or her research program.

A faculty member at WSU since 1989, Ivory is a well-known researcher in the area of bioseparations, where his work is focused on the development of novel systems to enable molecular-level protein separations and purification. The work has important implications in a variety of areas ranging from separations of radionuclides for national defense to purification of proteins that are used in pharmaceuticals and other health-related applications.

Ivory worked with his students to develop a separation technique called dynamic field-gradient focusing, which enables the isolation and purification of specific desired and undesired molecules by trapping them in an electric field gradient. Using this and other separation techniques, he is working with his collaborators to develop a blood test that may be used in a physician’s office to quickly and simply identify protein biomarkers that indicate if a patient is at-risk of suffering a heart attack. He also has worked with pharmaceutical companies to develop ways to better detect impurities in commercial pharmaceuticals, and is applying his technologies to enable the purification and detection of specific radioactive isotopes that have implications for national defense. Ivory holds five patents, with several others pending, and has more than 80 refereed publications. He holds a M.S. and Ph.D. from Princeton University in chemical engineering and received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

The Hohenschuh professorship employs a unique gift mechanism that allows the donor to commit a specific gift amount for a set period of years to support a faculty position or a scholarship. While most chairs and professorships have typically come from an endowment established in a donor’s estate plan, this new annual gift mechanism allows a donor to fund faculty and students immediately, says Don Shearer, associate director of development for the Voiland School. In so doing, the donor is able to immediately see the gift’s impact.

Hohenschuh (‘64 BS, ‘70 MS) grew up in Washougal in rural southwestern Washington. When he came to WSU with support of a scholarship, he was overwhelmed by the rigorous program in chemical engineering as well as continual financial stress. Two professors, George Austin, who was department chair, and Harry Stern, were particularly instrumental in helping him at critical times in continuing his education. He went on to become vice president of manufacturing of Genentech, a leading biotechnology/pharmaceutical company. He is now retired.

“We are grateful to Paul and Marjorie for their investment in the faculty of this school,”said Jim Petersen, director of the Voiland School. “With this support, they are helping to enhance the school’s performance, helping grow its reputation while ensuring that we have the best faculty teaching engaging, challenging, and educating our students. In so doing they’re showing how much they care about and support the School’s mission. They will truly make a difference in the lives of both chemical engineering and bioengineering students.”

A story published on April 8 by CNNMoney reported the results of the most recent survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The article was entitled “Best-paying college major: engineering”. It notes that “Majors in the engineering field dominated the association’s list of top-paying degrees for the class of 2011, with four of the top five spots going to engineering major… Chemical engineers were offered the highest starting salaries this year—an average of $66,646.” Average chemical engineering salaries exceed the average salary of the next highest major, mechanical engineering, by more than 10%. This analysis illustrates the tremendous national need for chemical engineers. The need in WA is even greater, given the breadth of industries that rely on chemical engineering expertise. Such industries include, for example, cleanup and clean energy companies clustered around the Hanford site in southeast WA, the petroleum refineries in northwest WA, airplane brake manufacturers in Spokane, and polysilicone for solar energy in Moses Lake. Chemical Engineers are needed throughout the nation and state. See the full article at CNNMoney for a more detailed analysis.