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Washington State University
The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering

Kristian Gobsch awarded NOAA Hollings Scholarship

Kristian Gubsch and Dr. Hongfei Lin working in the lab

Washington State University chemical engineering student Kristian Gubsch is the school’s first recipient of the prestigious Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship, administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The nationally competitive award pays $19,000 total for the Edgewood, Wash., student’s 2018-19 and 2019-20 academic years, provides a 10-week paid summer internship at an NOAA facility, and funds travel to present at two scientific conferences.

Heading into his junior year, Gubsch plans to facilitate an introductory course for incoming Honors College students and work in Dr. Hongfei Lin’s carbon conversion and chemical engineering research lab.

Read entire article about Kristian’s scholarship and atmospheric research at WSU News

Experi-mint: Eucalyptus as alternative to dense jet fuel

Hongfei Lin with two of his students in the lab

Hongfei LinPULLMAN, Wash. – A research team led by Hongfei Lin, associate professor from Washington State University’s Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, has developed a novel process for synthesizing dense jet fuel from mint, pine, gumweed, eucalyptus or other plants.

The research is a significant step towards making high-energy density biofuels affordable in the aviation industry.

Jet fuel from numerous plants

The process, known as biphasic tandem catalytic process (biTCP), synthesizes cyclic hydrocarbon compounds for jet fuel from terpenoids, the natural organic chemical compounds found in many plants. Cyclic hydrocarbons are molecular compounds with structures that can store high levels of energy. The researchers were able to create a high yield of the cyclic hydrocarbon p-menthane from eucalyptus oil.

Collaborating with the University of Nevada-Reno, the researchers’ work was recently published in the journal Green Chemistry.

View full article at WSU News

View article at Biomass Magazine

View article at Green Car Congress

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