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Kinetic Characterization For Pretreatment Of Timber Varieties And Switchgrass Using Diluted Acid Hydrolysis, Shu Chiang Yat

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In recent years, growing attention has been devoted to the use of lignocellulosic biomass as a feedstock to produce renewable carbohydrates as a source of energy products, including liquid alternatives to fossil fuels. The benefits of developing woody biomass to ethanol technology are to increase the long-term national energy security, reduce fossil energy consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions, use renewable rather than depletable resources, and create local jobs. Currently, research is driven by the need to reduce the cost of biomass-ethanol production. One of the preferred methods is to thermochemically pretreat the biomass material and subsequently, enzymatically hydrolyze the pretreated …

Enzyme Engineering Of Aminotransferases For Improved Activity And Thermostability, Abraham Rogelio Mártin García

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The production by biosynthesis of optically active amino acids and amines satisfies the pharmaceutical industry in its demand for chiral building blocks for the synthesis of various pharmaceuticals. Among several enzymatic methods that allow the synthesis of optically active aminoacids and amines, the use of minotransferase is a promising one due to its broad substrate specificity and no requirement for external cofactor regeneration. The synthesis of chiral compounds by aminotransferases can be done either by asymmetric synthesis starting from keto acids or ketones, and by kinetic resolution starting from racemic aminoacids or amines.

The asymmetric synthesis of substituted (S)-aminotetralin, an …

Development And Modeling Of Thermally Conductive Resins For Fuel Cell Bipolar Plate Applications, Michael G. Miller

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Thermally conductive resins are a class of material that show promise in many different applications. One growing field for their use is in the area of bipolar plate technology for fuel cell applications. In this work, a LCP was mixed with different types of carbon fillers to determine the effects of the individual carbon fillers on the thermal conductivity of the composite resin. In addition, mathematical modeling was performed on the thermal conductivity data with the goal of developing predictive models for the thermal conductivity of highly filled composite resins.