Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons^™

Mixed Matrix Membranes For Sustainable Electrical Energy-Saving Applications, Hossein Riasat Harami, Farid Amirkhani, Hossein Abedsoltan, Mohammad Younas, Mashallah Rezakazemi, Mahdi Sheikh, Saeed Shirazian

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This work presents a technical investigation and review of the development of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) employed in different applications to save electrical energy. The MMMs design has been recently adjusted and improved to restore more energy bulks. The important factors to control the performance of the MMMs are the penetrant type, membrane matrix, and polymer-filler interface interactions. This study reviews the current methods to deal with dielectric MMMs and smart nanomembranes for energy saving. These methods include ferroelectric membrane fabrication, dielectric permittivity, conductive dopants, construction of nanocomposites with modified surfaces, and the usage of combined effects. Most chemists and …

The 3-O-Sulfation Of Heparan Sulfate Modulates Protein Binding And Lyase Degradation, Pradeep Chopra, Apoorva Joshi, Jiandong Wu, Weigang Lu, Tejabhiram Yadavalli, Margreet A. Wolfert, Deepak Shukla, Joseph Zaia, Geert Jan Boons

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Humans Express Seven Heparan Sulfate (HS) 3-O-Sulfotransferases that Differ in Substrate Specificity and Tissue Expression. Although Genetic Studies Have Indicated that 3-O-Sulfated HS Modulates Many Biological Processes, Ligand Requirements for Proteins Engaging with HS Modified by 3-O-Sulfate (3-OS) Have Been Difficult to Determine. in Particular, the Context in Which the 3-OS Group Needs to Be Presented for Binding is Largely Unknown. We Describe Herein a Modular Synthetic Approach that Can Provide Structurally Diverse HS Oligosaccharides with and Without 3-OS. the Methodology Was Employed to Prepare 27 Hexasaccharides that Were Printed as a Glycan Microarray to Examine Ligand Requirements of a …

A Microscale Approach To Investigate Breast Cancer Cellular Communication And Migration, Sharif Mohammad Mizanur Rahman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Metastatic breast cancer significantly decreases patient survival, with the majority of deaths caused by secondary metastasis. Cancer metastasis is a multi-step process that starts with the detachment of a cancer cell from the primary tumor and ends with establishing a secondary tumor at a distal location. This work's focus was to use an interdisciplinary microscale approach to study how cancer cells respond to neighboring cells and how they migrate in response to chemical gradients. Two distinct devices, a microfluidic device, and a 3D-printed plate insert, were developed to perform co-culture studies to elucidate the impact of ASCs on cancer cell …

A Model For Crafting Diversity, Inclusion, Respect, And Equity (Dire) Policy Statements Toward Catalyzing Organizational Change, Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Breanca Merrit, Ann C. Kimble-Hill

Founder’s College - Scholarship and Professional Work

In light of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) community has had to reflect on how their organizations can address their disparities in identity representation. To that end, the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs (CMA) has been called upon to advise various levels of the chemistry enterprise in their interventions, such as structured and actionable policy statements. As a result, this work was created to provide a model for all organizations to write catalytic diversity, inclusion, respect, and equity (DIRE) policy statements. The model herein acknowledges active tensions and leverages theory, analysis, and practical …

First Ever Polymer Flood Field Pilot To Enhance The Recovery Of Heavy Oils On Alaska's North Slope Pushing Ahead One Year Later, Abhijit Dandekar, Baojun Bai, John Barnes, Dave Cercone, Jared Ciferno, Reid Edwards, Samson Ning, Walbert Schulpen, Randy Seright, Brent Sheets, Dongmei Wang, Yin Zhang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In June 2018 the team embarked on an ambitious project to address the slow development pace of Alaska's 20+ billion barrels heavy oil resource via the first ever polymer flood pilot. Following the successful commencement of the pilot in August 2018, the field demonstration, supporting laboratory experiments and numerical simulation have steadily progressed. A significant amount of valuable data and lessons learned have been collected and are reported in this paper. The ongoing pilot and the research activities is making headway toward the primary objective of validating the use of polymer flooding for extracting heavy oil in Alaska's challenging environment. …

Impact Of Rheology Models On Horizontal Well Polymer Flooding In A Heavy Oil Reservoir On Alaska North Slope: A Simulation Study, Jianqiao Leng, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai, Randall S. Seright, Yin Zhang, David Cercone, Samson Ning

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Polymer rheology can have either a positive or a negative effect on polymer flooding performance under varied circumstances. Many researchers have studied the effect of polymer rheology in a vertical well, but no field scale studies have been conducted to investigate whether polymer rheology is beneficial to polymer flooding in heavy oil reservoirs developed by horizontal wells. In this paper, we conducted a numerical simulation study to examine the effect of HPAM polymer rheology on a polymer flooding pilot, which is the first-ever project conducted on a heavy oil reservoir from Alaska North Slope (ANS) developed by horizontal wells. Three …

Oxygen Harvesting From Carbon Dioxide: Simultaneous Epoxidation And Co Formation, Han Xu, Muhammad Shaban, Sui Wang, Anas Alkayal, Dingxin Liu, Michael G. Kong, Felix Plasser, Benjamin R. Buckley, Felipe Iza

Bioelectrics Publications

Due to increasing concentrations in the atmosphere, carbon dioxide has, in recent times, been targeted for utilisation (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage, CCUS). In particular, the production of CO from CO₂ has been an area of intense interest, particularly since the CO can be utilized in Fischer–Tropsch synthesis. Herein we report that CO₂ can also be used as a source of atomic oxygen that is efficiently harvested and used as a waste-free terminal oxidant for the oxidation of alkenes to epoxides. Simultaneously, the process yields CO. Utilization of the atomic oxygen does not only generate a valuable product, …

Kinetics Study Of The Hydrodeoxygenation Of Xylitol Over A ReoX-Pd/Ceo2 Catalyst, Blake Macqueen, Michael Royko, Bradie S. Crandall, Andreas Heyden, Yomaira J. Pagán-Torres, Jochen A. Lauterbach

Faculty Publications

In this study, we elucidate the reaction kinetics for the simultaneous hydrodeoxygenation of xylitol to 1,2-dideoxypentitol and 1,2,5-pentanetriol over a ReOx-Pd/CeO2 (2.0 weight% Re, 0.30 weight% Pd) catalyst. The reaction was determined to be a zero-order reaction with respect to xylitol. The activation energy was elucidated through an Arrhenius relationship as well as non-Arrhenius kinetics. The Arrhenius relationship was investigated at 150–170◦ C and a constant H2 pressure of 10 bar resulting in an activation energy of 48.7 ± 10.5 kJ/mol. The investigation of non-Arrhenius kinetics was conducted at 120–170◦ C and a sub-Arrhenius relation was elucidated with activation energy …

Understanding Absorption, Supersaturation, And Drug Activity In Solution: Working Towards Developing A More Biorelevant Media, Freddy Arce

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacy

With the looming dominance of poorly water-soluble chemical entities within the pharmaceutical pipeline, the pharmaceutical industry has leaned on the use of supersaturating drug delivery systems (SDDSs) to achieve efficacious concentrations within the gastrointestinal fluids. SDDSs aim to achieve concentrations in solutions greater than the solubility of the lowest energy crystalline form. However, the generation of supersaturated solutions of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) creates a strong crystallization potential, which is undesirable.

In product development, supersaturating products often fail in Phase I and Phase II clinical trials due to poor oral bioavailability and a lack of in vivo efficacy. Pre-clinical testing …

Development Of Phagotrophic Algae-Based Process For Conversion Of Waste Organics To Algae Lipids As Potential Feedstock For Biofuel, Hannah Nelson

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Interest in sustainable feedstock for biofuel has encouraged research on the production of phagotrophic algae from bacteria using a two-staged continuous-flow system. Bacteria cultures were fed the content of a waste stream from The J.M. Smuckers Company containing high concentrations of sugar. In the design, the bacteria effluent overflowed into the algae tank which was kept at a set volume. Several methods were developed to assist in maintaining the system at steady state and minimize the impact from contaminants. A rigorous cleaning protocol was implemented for both tanks, effectively eliminating protozoa from the bacteria system. The protozoa were decreased in …

Comparison Of The Effects Of Hofmeister Ions On Transition Temperature Of Two Thermoresponsive Polymers, Ashley Knight

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It has been hypothesized that poly(vinylmethylether) (PVME) could be used to replace poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAM) in various thermoresponsive applications based on literature searches and previous lab experiments. PVME is cheaper and easier to process, and would make pNIPAAM applications more cost effective. In order to verify this, experimental data was gathered on the effects of four anions from the Hofmeister series (SO₄₂-, Cl-, I-, and SCN-) on the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of pNIPAAM and compared to previous data collected on PVME. Commercial pNIPAAM from Sigma Aldrich and Polysciences were used. The reported LCST range for pNIPAAM is …

Investigation Of Surface Charge Using Faraday Bucket Measurements: Analysis On Electrospun Polyvinylidene Fluoride Fiber Mats, Ryan Kantenwein

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Piezoelectric polymer materials such as polyvinylidene fluoride exhibit beneficial properties for use in personal protective equipment (PPE) against viral contaminants and other foreign microparticles. The electrospinning process of this material allows for surface charge to develop over a controlled surface area. Kynar 761 at 10 wt% demonstrates increased surface charge after withstanding a flow of aerated NaCl particles from a TSI 8130 instrument. Utilizing voltage measurements from a Faraday bucket, 18 wt% Kynar 761 and MG-15 exhibit surface charge when undergoing an electrospinning process; however, Kynar MG-15 displays lower charge values than that of Kynar 761. Several critical factors such …

Quantifying Mafenide Release From 3d Printed Phenylalanine-Coumarin Copolyester Scaffolds, Jacob Seeh

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This project addressed burn wound healing through controlled release of the antibacterial drug mafenide encapsulated by a copolyster into 3D printed scaffolds. Scaffolds were printed at 25^oC and 0.77-1 bar in a cross-hatch pattern with uniform thickness, distance between parallel layers, and diameter then photo-crosslinked. The number of scaffolds available for testing was limited by the amount of polymer that could be synthesized. A high-performance liquid chromatography method was developed specifically for this experiment and used to determine daily release of mafenide from the scaffold into a 2-mL phosphate buffer solution. During the first 24 hours a large …

Brownian Dynamics Of Interacting Anisotropic Magnetic Nanoparticles, Daniel Duke

Summer Community of Scholars Posters (RCEU and HCR Combined Programs)

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Microporous Structure On The Enzymatic Conversion Of Biomass Using A Multiscale Model, Saketh Merugu

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The generation of biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass involves innovative process technology that is being investigated worldwide. Enzymatic hydrolysis is a major step in the contemporary process of the generation of biofuels. Guided by pore size distribution measured using NMR cryoporometry, we developed pore-enzyme diffusion and adsorption models at the particle level coupled with a kinetic model for cellulose, cellobiose, and glucose production at flask level. By simulating these models in MATLAB, COMSOL, and Polymath software packages, we investigate the effects of various biomass particle-related parameters (particle dimensions, porosity, enzyme accessibility) on the characteristic time of enzyme diffusion and adsorption and …

Kinetics Study Of The Hydrodeoxygenation Of Xylitol Over A ReoX-Pd/Ceo2 Catalyst, Blake Macqueen, Michael Royko, Bradie S. Crandall, Andreas Heyden, Yomaira J. Pagán-Torres, Jochen A. Lauterbach

Faculty Publications

In this study, we elucidate the reaction kinetics for the simultaneous hydrodeoxygenation of xylitol to 1,2-dideoxypentitol and 1,2,5-pentanetriol over a ReOx-Pd/CeO2 (2.0 weight% Re, 0.30 weight% Pd) catalyst. The reaction was determined to be a zero-order reaction with respect to xylitol. The activation energy was elucidated through an Arrhenius relationship as well as non-Arrhenius kinetics. The Arrhenius relationship was investigated at 150–170◦ C and a constant H2 pressure of 10 bar resulting in an activation energy of 48.7 ± 10.5 kJ/mol. The investigation of non-Arrhenius kinetics was conducted at 120–170◦ C and a sub-Arrhenius relation was elucidated with activation energy …

Development Of Light Actuated Chemical Delivery Platform On A 2-D Array Of Micropore Structure, Hojjat Rostami Azmand, Hojjat Rostami Azmand

Dissertations and Theses

Localized chemical delivery plays an essential role in the fundamental information transfers within biological systems. Thus, the ability to mimic the natural chemical signal modulation would provide significant contributions to understand the functional signaling pathway of biological cells and develop new prosthetic devices for neurological disorders. In this paper, we demonstrate a light-controlled hydrogel platform that can be used for localized chemical delivery in a high spatial resolution. By utilizing the photothermal behavior of graphene-hydrogel composites confined within micron-sized fluidic channels, patterned light illumination creates the parallel and independent actuation of chemical release in a group of fluidic ports. The …

Biological Conversion Of Carbon Dioxide To Value-Added Chemicals, Owen James Mcgrath

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) levels in the atmosphere continue to rise due to human intervention, there is increased urgency to take actions to mitigate the potential ramifications. Many countries have instituted a CO₂ tax and have provided funding to finding potential solutions to our growing CO₂ problem. Further investigating CO₂ capture, sequestration, and utilization is key to combating rising CO₂ levels and methods being investigated have increased substantially in recent years. Converting CO₂ into fuels and value-added chemicals provides a unique opportunity to create materials of value from a substance that is being …

Optimization Of Gelatin-Based Cellular Coating Of Msc For Myocardial Infarction Therapy, Kara Amelle Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Cardiovascular disease remains the number one threat to American lives. During an acute myocardial infarction (AMI), blood flow is blocked and results in the formation of scar tissue. As the body’s immune system responds, inflammatory signaling causes an increase in both scar tissue size and the patient’s risk for further chronic heart failure. In order to reduce the risk of continued heart disease inflammatory signaling must be reduced. Stem cell therapies have the ability to alter the immune system’s pro-inflammatory signal. However, stem cell retention is limited due to blood flow shear. Gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) based coatings have been shown …

Interactions Of Lignin Dimers With Engineered Surfaces And Model Cell Membranes For Design Of Lignin-Based Materials, Mahsa Moradipour

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Capitalizing on byproducts of industrial and agricultural economies is among the utmost goals of sustainability. Of particular interest for commercial upgrading is lignin, a phenolic biopolymer found in the cell walls of plants which is the second most abundant biopolymer on Earth after cellulose. Due to its heterogeneous structure, deconstructing lignin to selected small molecules for use as chemicals or advanced materials has been elusive. This work capitalizes on a “bottom up” approach to the synthesis of lignin oligomers of known bond chemistry to better understand their interfacial interactions.

The potential pharmacological mechanism of lignin deconstruction components and their toxicological …