Engineering Commons^™

Abe Fermentation From Low Cost Substrates, Kai Gao

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The high cost of substrate and product inhibition in the fermentation broth remains two major problems associated with bio-butanol production. This thesis aims to solve these problems by examining abundant lignocellulosic biomass as potential feedstocks and exploring novel substrates such as carbohydrates derived from microalgae for ABE fermentation. The commonly observed toxic effect after pretreatment of lignocelluslosic biomass was removed by resin adsorption, where the resin could also serve as an in-situ butanol recvoery devices.

Corn cobs (an agricultural waste), switchgrass (an energy crop) and phragmites (an invasive plant in North America) were investigated as substrates for ABE fermentation by …

Fractionation Of Cornstalk Into Cellulose And Lignin For The Production Of Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose, Tao Shui

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis project aimed to fractionate cornstalk into cellulose and lignin, and utilize the crude cornstalk-derived cellulose for the production of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and the lignin for the sybthesis of bio-based phenol-formaldehyde resole resins as wood adhesives. In this thesis work, cornstalk was efficiently fractionated into crude cellulose and crude lignin in mixed solvents of acetic acid, formic acid and water at a solid/agent ratio of 1:5 (g/mL) at 80-100 °C for 120-240 min. The best conditions for organosolv fractionation of cornstalk among the test conditions were determined as follows: mixed solvent of acetic acid/formic acid/water (3:6:1, v/v/v), HCl …

Production Of Bio-Based Phenol Formaldehyde Foams, Bing Li

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Considering the declining non-renewable fossil resources, there is increasing interest in the development of more environmentally conscious, sustainable and cost-effective substitutes for chemical production. Lignin, a main component in lignocellulosic biomass, has been considered to be a potential substitute for petroleum-based phenol due to its phenolic structure.

This PhD dissertation aimed at producing bio-based phenol formaldehyde (BPF) foams using bio-phenols, including but not limited to, kraft lignin (KL), organosolv lignin (OL), hydrolysis lignin (HL), and bio-crude oil from white birth bark. The challenge of the existing process of producing BPF foams is that a low phenol substitution ratio, generally less …

Development Of An Autonomous Robotic Mushroom Harvester, Nikita Alexeevich Kuchinskiy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The process of development of a new robot is one of the modern technological arts. This process involves multiple complex steps and recursive approach. In this project, a solution for automatic harvesting of mushrooms is developed. In order to design an effective solution, it is necessary to explore and take into consideration the limitations of grasping very soft and fragile objects (particularly mushrooms). We will elaborate several strategies of picking and analyze each strategy to formulate the design requirements, develop a solution, and finally, evaluate the efficiency of the proposed solution in actual farm conditions for real mushrooms. The mushroom …