Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Synthesis Of Novel Ionic Liquid Tagged Porphryin Media Designed For The Oxidation Of Lignin, Joseph Hugh Franklin Baker

Online Theses and Dissertations

The ever growing need for a viable renewable fuel source has led to this thesis project; the biomimetic lignin degradation by means of a homogeneous oxidative catalyst in corresponding ionic liquids. Lignin comprises nearly a third of lignocellulosic biomass and is cross-linked to both cellulose and hemicellulose. Current utilization methods of lignin do not generate the full value of the polymer, because they do not yield many of the valuable feed stock chemicals it is comprised of. To improve the value of the biomass as a whole and create a viable economy for the US's transition to biofuels, better utilization …

Ambient Ionization Mass Spectrometry Analysis Pertaining To Biofuel Process Development, Sushma Dendukuri

Online Theses and Dissertations

Mass spectrometry (MS) has undergone a revolution with the introduction of a new group of desorption/ionization (DI) techniques known collectively as Ambient Ionization mass spectrometry. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry allows for direct analysis of analytes and typically requires little or no sample preparation. Specifically, Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) has developed rapidly and allowed investigations to occur with the analysis of biomass after various pretreatments to determine the pretreatment biomass degradation efficiency. The degradation of the initial biomass structure is a very important step before other chemical treatments can occur to generate needed sugars. Since generated sugars aid in …

Deuterium Tracer Studies Of The Mechanism Of Cobalt Catalyzed Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, Chunfen Jin

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) catalytic polymerization reaction has been discovered in 1920s, many kinds of possible mechanisms have been reported. However, there is still debate because there is a lacking of experimental evidence to discriminate the validity of each mechanism. To define the mechanism of Fischer-Tropsch-Synthesis (FTS), we must define the C-C formation pathways as well as the structure of initiator species in the process, and finally provide an explanation in mechanistic detail as to how branched hydrocarbon compounds are formed in the reaction sequence.

In order to understand the cobalt catalyzed mechanism of FTS, we conducted H2/D2 switching and …