New Materials from Biomass

There is greater and greater interest in reducing the dependency of the world on petroleum based industries.   It is thus of importance to society to develop new products and fuels from renewable bio-based sources.   This is not a trivial task as the reason that petroleum based materials are so prevalent currently is that petroleum based materials are currently inexpensive, widely available and effective.  Our research has entailed investigating the use of abundant natural polymers such as cellulose, lignin and starch to produce advanced materials.  We are interested in determining the underlying principles that dictate bio-based material behavior.  This involves the study of the effects of composition-processing-structure on final material properties.

Life Cycle Analysis and Carbon Footprinting

As the global society moves towards a more carbon constrained climate, business and industry will ultimately have to meet customer needs in a way that generates fewer carbon emissions. Business energy efficiency and low carbon energy supply will play an important role in mitigating global climate modification- a method of implementing economically wise and environmentally significant solutions is by evaluating the “carbon footprint” of products across the supply chain. Indeed, managing the carbon footprint is the next logical step for business and industry to participate in reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. Currently, an established set of guidelines for calculating carbon footprints of products does not exist. The activities in this group are involved in developing models, data and boundary conditions to determine unbiased calculations of the carbon footprint for products and activities.

Paper Recycling

Paper recycling is an important technology in the United States.  Over one-half of the approximately 100 million tons of paper consumed in the US is recycled.  Important advances are needed to improve the processes in recycling that dictate the quality of the product, the economics of the process and the environmental issues involved in recycling. It is of interest therefore to define the mechanisms that determine the efficiency of conventional paper recycling unit operations and to develop new methods of effective recycling.  Our research has included studying the principles behind the following paper recycling related processes:  agglomeration deinking, paper recycling with supercritical carbon dioxide, the removal of pressure sensitive adhesive materials with screens, the fractionation of fibers, the detection of depositable contaminants, and the reduction of strength in paper due to recycling.

Green paper: for a method to determine if a paper product is recyclable using standard paper recycling technology, please see the Paper Recycling section listed under Other areas, to the right.