Steam distillation has been the common method of extraction of essential oils from plants for more than a century. The use of microwave energy has been suggested as an alternative distillation method that would: reduce water usage, dependence on non-renewable energy sources, and the carbon footprint. A byproduct of this...
Degradation of lignin to simpler compounds is desirable for removing residual lignin during paper manufacture and accessing biomass carbohydrates for biofuel production, among other purposes. Lignin transformation using enzymes found in white rot fungi, some of nature's most efficient lignin-degrading organisms, offers a more environmentally benign, selective, and possibly less...
Platinum and palladium surfaces are utilized as catalytic surfaces in the chemical industry. Understanding how hydrogen atoms interact with the metal surfaces will allow for further advancement in this area. Specifically, the interaction of hydrogen on the surface and subsurface of these metals was investigated using density functional theory calculations...
This study investigated learning in three engineering student clubs at a large public university. This included a small-sized chemical reaction car competition, a large-sized formula racing team, and an international humanitarian engineering club. Research methods included observations of work sessions (N=27) and semi-structured interviews (N=19). Using Cultural Historical Activity Theory...
Rising CO₂ concentrations in the atmosphere (396 ppmv as of April 2012)
increase the effect of global warming and climate change. CO₂ sequestration has become
a potential method to mitigate climate change. This study focuses on capillary/residual
trapping as a form of geologic CO₂ sequestration. Capillary/residual trapping occurs
when supercritical...
The development of a market for currently non-merchantable forest material, such as harvest residues of tops and limbs of trees or small diameter trees, has been suggested as a possible win-win solution that could: (i) provide a financial incentive to help motivate treatments to reduce wildfire risk or restore forest...
Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a genetic inborn metabolic disorder which inhibits the functional production of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). It currently affects one in 15,000 Americans and is the most common amino acid metabolism error found in newborns. Individuals affected with PKU are incapable of metabolizing the amino acid, phenylalanine...
Small landowners in the state of Oregon find it difficult to be competitive with larger companies to provide traditional forest products to consumers. Additionally, many landowners hope to be profitable from their land, but are not necessarily interested in or have the capability to harvest large tracts of timber. Specialty...
The essential oil components of cedar heartwoods play an important role in the durability of these trees. Yet, the composition of these oils and identity of many of the compounds remains unknown, or incompletely know for some commercially important cedar heartwoods. The essential oil extracts of Alaska Yellow Cedar (Chamaecyparis...
The work described in this dissertation focused on chemistry related to the use of aqueous sodium hydroxide as a treatment in the processing of wheat straw. A major emphasis was the comprehensive evaluation of straw component partitioning due to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) processing. This was evaluated over a range of...