Aug 9 2010
Two North Dakota State University professors have received $309,357 from the National Science Foundation for research to improve conversion and reduce costs of making ethanol from cellulosic biomass.
Andriy Voronov, assistant professor in the Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials, and Scott Pryor, assistant professor in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering at NDSU, will conduct the research in collaboration with Sergiy Minko, chaired professor of chemistry at Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y., who has been awarded $200,978 from the National Science Foundation.
The objective of the group’s research is to enhance the conversion of cellulosic biomass into fermentable glucose to convert into ethanol or other chemicals or fuels. Their work is aimed at improving efficacy and reducing costs of cellulase enzymes needed for converting biomass to soluble sugars. Their research proposal is titled "pH-Responsive Capsules for Enhanced Delivery and Recovery of Cellulases for Biomass Hydrolysis."
By 2022, federal energy legislation calls for 36 billion gallons of biobased fuels, with 16 billion of that from cellulosic biomass and 5 billion gallons from advanced biofuels. In their proposal, the researchers point out that significant challenges remain to develop economical cellulosic ethanol. The research group at NDSU will focus efforts on engineering a robust and scalable method to manufacture hierarchically structured hybrid organic-inorganic microcapsules loaded with cellulase enzymes. In addition, they will work to develop a methodology to recover and reuse these capsules to convert cellulose into fermentable glucose.
Six undergraduate and graduate students will also be involved in the research, according to Voronov. Participating students will be trained to gain expertise in biotechnology, biocatalysis and material science. They will also be provided an opportunity to participate in professional meetings to present results of their research. Under the research proposal, faculty members plan to provide opportunities for high school students and science teachers through lectures and potential summer lab internships in conjunction with their research.
Andriy Voronov joined NDSU in 2007 in the Department of Coatings and Polymeric Materials. He previously served as staff scientist in the Institute of Particle Technology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany. He received his master’s and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering and macromolecular chemistry from the Lviv Polytechnic National University of Ukraine.
Scott Pryor came to NDSU’s Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering in 2006. He received his doctorate degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y, in biological and environmental engineering. Pryor previously completed postdoctoral work at Cargill Acidulants, Eddyville, Iowa, and worked as an environmental engineer for Brown and Caldwell, St. Paul, Minn.
Source: http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/