Award Data

Each year over 1 billion tons of animal manure is produced in US and it can be a pollution source if not handled properly. "Anaerobic digestion" is an energy efficient way to dispose manure. Through this process manure is converted to biogas and digestate. The manure digestate can be used as fertilizer. Biogas is a mixture of ~60% CH4, ~40% CO2 and trace amounts of contaminant gasses such as H2S. ...

The current dependence of the United States on fossil fuels has sparked enormous interest in the development of biomaterials derived from biomass, specifically cellulosic biomaterials. Cellulosic biomaterials are a carbon neutral, renewable resource, and their use could drastically curtail total carbon dioxide emissions while also reducing U.S. dependence on fossil fuels. Biofuels is one example o ...

There continues to be a need for production of biofuels from agricultural sources. Butanol is a more attractive fuel than ethanol because it leads to better gas mileage, it achieves higher blends with gasoline than bioethanol, it has greater compatibility with existing fuel infrastructure, it is less volatile, it is more amenable to transport via pipeline due to low water absorption, there is no n ...

Vapors produced during the process of refueling cars are a significant source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions. Uncontrolled emissions cause economic losses and pollute the environment. This problem is exacerbated when the gasoline contains bioethanol because its presence increases the vapor pressure and volatility of the fuel. These increased fuel emissions from ethanol-gasoline ble ...

Soybean is the major source for production of edible oils worldwide and in United States. Pressing of the soybean into flakes followed by the solvent extraction with hexane (solvent) is most widely practiced for extraction of oil. Separation of solvent from oil-solvent mixture for solvent recovery and reuse is usually carried out by solvent evaporation. Evaporation (or distillation) demands consid ...

The membrane drying process for ethanol plants should be of great value in increasing capacity and/or reducing energy consumption for existing ethanol plants. We will manufacture modules of the novel membrane with a commercial partner. A pilot demonstration unit will be constructed and deployed at an actual ethanol plant for demonstrating the membrane process capabilities and advantages.

Farm equipment and other industries use biodegradable hydraulic fluids (BHF), esters based on agricultural raw materials, that provide rapid decomposition and reduced environmental problems associated with spills. Hydrolytic stability is major problem, since BHFs react with dissolved water creating alcohols and acids accelerating degradation. This program introduces a membrane system to remove wat ...

Ethylene is a growth hormone for fruits and vegetables that is generated by the plants themselves; that is, it acts as a self-ripening agent. Hence, the removal of ethylene gas can play a central role in maintaining the freshness of these products. Whereas the temperature and the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide gases are also important system variables that demand a significant economic invest ...

No simple/convenient process exists to concentrate wine without developing a burnt taste. This program develops the osmotic distillation process to concentrate wine at room temperature. Osmotic distillation enhances dewatering approximately 10-fold and in so doing makes the process economically attractive.

This study will focus on the further development and optimization of a new method to deliver ozone into process waters employed for washing fruits and vegetables. The FDA has just approved the use of ozone to control pathogens in the food processing industry. Key objectives of this study include development of pilot rig consisting of O3 generation, delivery equipment, while studying overall enhanc ...