Chemical Engineering Department Research Articles

Materials Process Engineering Gr., Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University

Materials Process Engineering Gr., Department of Chemical Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University

Electrochemical Modeling and Simulation of a Three-Electrode Lead Acid Cell

The low initial cost, ease of manufacture and relatively mature state of technology make lead-acid batteries the most popular energy storage choice for a variety of applications. Lead-acid batteries exist in different designs and configurations, each suitable for different use cases and performance targets such as cycle life, rate performance, and cost. Further performance and design improvements remain of significant salience to battery manufacturers.1–3 Electrochemical modeling can greatly complement the product development process by enabling the quick evaluation new lead-acid designs, reducing the amount of testing and validation required, and their attendant temporal and economic demands. Several continuum-level models with varying predictive capabilities have been reported in the literature. These have been used to examine the effect of various material and cell design parameters on performance.4–7 This talk describes an electrochemical modeling study for a lead-acid test cell comprising two positive electrodes engaging a single negative electrode. The one-dimensional electrochemical model employed herein is adapted from classical porous electrode models for flooded lead-acid cells. Along with the porous electrode, separator and reservoir domains of a single cell model, the test cell includes additional cathode and reservoir regions. This configuration may be observed in the terminal plates in a commercial battery layout. Classical electrochemical models,4,6 which analyze a single repeat unit in a full battery, are extended to this non-standard configuration by modeling additional porous electrode and reservoir regions. The non-standard model necessitates appropriate boundary conditions to define the coupling between electrochemical variables in different regions, since the symmetry boundary conditions typically used are no longer applicable. The modified model equations and new boundary conditions are then simulated using a finite-difference scheme for discharge and compared against experimental data for standard performance tests, namely C20, Reserve Capacity (RC) and Cold Cranking Amperage (CCA). The salient modeling and simulation differences with a standard lead-acid model are also discussed, as are the trends in predicted electrochemical variables. We expect this model to be of substantial utility in guiding the evaluation of new battery designs through the improved prediction of performance in the test cell configuration. Acknowledgements This research was supported by EXIDE Technologies. The authors also acknowledge financial support from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington. References G. J. May, A. Davidson, and B. Monahov, J. Energy Storage, 15, 145–157 (2018)J. Lannelongue, M. Cugnet, N. Guillet, and A. Kirchev, J. Power Sources, 352, 194–207 (2017).A. Jaiswal and S. C. Chalasani, J. Energy Storage, 1, 15–21 (2015).H. Gu, T. V. Nguyen, and R. E. White, J. Electrochem. Soc., 134, 2953–2960 (1987).W. B. Gu, C. Y. Wang, and B. Y. Liaw, J. Electrochem. Soc., 144, 2053–2061 (1997).M. Cugnet, S. Laruelle, S. Grugeon, B. Sahut, J. Sabatier, J.-M. Tarascon, and A. Oustaloup, J. Electrochem. Soc., 156, A974–A985 (2009).Nguyen, T. V., R. E. White, and H. Gu, J. Electrochem. Soc., 137, 2998–3004 (1990).

A Mass and Charge Conserving Tanks-in-series Model for Lithium-Ion Batteries

The incorporation of physics-based lithium-ion battery models in real-time optimization, control and estimation has the potential to substantially facilitate their efficient and safe operation.1,2 In addition to improved prediction of battery states, the access to predictions of variables internal to battery electrochemistry allows the formulation of more complete optimization and control problems than would be possible by simple circuit models.3 Various approaches have been employed to enable this integration by reducing the computational demands of electrochemical models, particularly for the macro-homogeneous ‘P2D’ models of Newman and co-workers.4 These may be broadly divided into two categories: simplifications of the full model subject to limiting assumptions,5–7 or reformulation techniques which exploit the underlying structure of model equations to achieve fast simulation.1,8,9 The single particle model (SPM) visualizes the electrodes in a lithium-ion battery as two spherical particles and considers the electrode reactions and lithium transport through the active particle. Importantly however, it neglects potential and concentration variations in the electrolyte phase, which limits its predictive ability to low-current scenarios. Reformulated P2D models offer the desired computational performance without sacrificing physical detail, but their utility is dependent on the precise estimation of a large number of parameters from experimental data.10 This talk focuses on the development of a lumped physics-based model for lithium-ion batteries. The governing equations of the P2D model are integrated over the volume of each region in a cathode-separator-anode representation. This results in a set of volume-averaged quantities and relations, with the temporal evolution of each averaged variable expressed as an overall balance containing internal source terms and interfacial fluxes, which need to be approximated. The averaged porous domains may thus be regarded as three ‘tanks-in-series’. The model equations are simulated, and the electrochemical variable predictions compared against both the full P2D model and SPM over a range of parameter combinations and operating conditions. Various approximations for the interfacial fluxes are also evaluated in terms of their impact on cell-level predictions. The model is also extended to incorporate thermal effects via volume-averaged energy balances. Model predictions for different galvanostatic discharge rates suggest that the lumped model is of intermediate sophistication between the SPM and the P2D models. This is most likely because it incorporates liquid phase transport in an average sense, in contrast to SPM, which ignores them entirely. The lumped model is conservative, and possesses the computational simplicity of SPM, while also incorporating elements from the P2D model, but with a smaller number of parameters, making it easier to parameterize and potentially facilitating use in real-time prediction and control. In addition, tank models have been extensively researched in control theory, enabling the extension of these concepts to battery systems through lumped models. The ‘tanks-in-series’ averaging procedure described herein may be generalized to any electrochemical battery model. Acknowledgements The authors are also thankful for financial support from the Battery500 Consortium and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E). The authors acknowledge financial support from the Department of Chemical Engineering and the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington. References A. M. Bizeray, S. Zhao, S. R. Duncan, and D. A. Howey, J. Power Sources, 296, 400 (2015).V. Ramadesigan, P. W. C. Northrop, S. De, S. Santhanagopalan, R. D. Braatz, and V. R. Subramanian, J. Electrochem. Soc., 159, R31 (2012).M. Pathak, D. Sonawane, S. Santhanagopalan, R. D. Braatz, and V. R. Subramanian, ECS Trans., 75, 51 (2017).M. Doyle, T. J. Fuller, and J. Newman, J. Electrochem. Soc., 140, 1526 (1993).S. Santhanagopalan and R. E. White, J. Power Sources, 161, 1346 (2006).B. S. Haran, B. N. Popov, and R. E. White, J. Power Sources, 75, 56 (1998).M. Guo, G. Sikha, and R. E. White, J. Electrochem. Soc., 158, A122 (2011).P. W. C. Northrop, V. Ramadesigan, S. De, and V. R. Subramanian, J. Electrochem. Soc., 158, A1461 (2011).P. W. C. Northrop, M. Pathak, D. Rife, S. De, S. Santhanagopalan, and V. R. Subramanian, J. Electrochem. Soc., 162, A940 (2015).V. Ramadesigan, K. Chen, N. A. Burns, V. Boovaragavan, R. D. Braatz, and V. R. Subramanian, J. Electrochem. Soc., 158, A1048 (2011).

Nanoscale Chirality

Nanoparticles/nanostructures have long been attracting extensive interest thanks to their unique optical and electronic properties that are vastly different from those of their atomic and bulk forms. This material chemistry is further enriched by the recent emergence of nanoscale chirality. Traditionally, chirality refers to the handedness of a molecule or structure that is non-superimposable onto its mirror image, and can be quantitatively assessed by circular dichroism (CD) measurements. This has been observed with a range of molecules, such as peptides, proteins, and DNA, where the CD absorption typically appears in the far ultraviolet region. Recently, a variety of nanoparticles and nanostructures have also been found to exhibit unique chiroptical characteristics in the visible range due to intimate interactions with the nanoparticle surface plasmon resonance (hence denoted as plasmonic circular dichroism, PCD). Such nanoscale chirality has been observed with a chiral core shape, such as helical/spiral structures and/or the formation of chiral staples on the metal core surfaces. In addition, the strong interactions between the surface capping ligands and noble metal nanoparticles, such as gold and silver, can potentially influence the nanoparticle's surface property and give rise to chiroptical response as well. Interestingly, when the interactions between the capping ligands and the plasmonic nanoparticles are relatively weak, the symmetry of the metal core surface will not be changed appreciably upon the formation of a capping layer. In this case, the nanoparticle CD may arise from chiral organic capping ligands that are interacting with the plasmonic nanoparticles, and become intensified with increasing concentration of the chiral molecules on the nanoparticle surface. This is generally ascribed to strong dipole (and higher-order) interactions between the ligand and nanoparticle core electrons. Upon interactions with the chiral ligands, the symmetry of the electronic property of the nanoparticle core surface is distorted, leading to different extinction coefficients between the left- and right-handed circularly polarized light. In addition to individual nanoparticles, nanoparticle assembly with chiral crosslinkers can also exhibit well-defined PCD response (e.g., DNA and peptides). More interestingly, achiral nanoparticles can assemble into chiral nanostructures and produce apparent chiroptical response, even without the use of chiral crosslinkers. As the resulting PCD is sensitive to the chemical nature and surface morphology of nanoparticles and the specific arrangement of nanoparticles in the ensemble structures, it can be exploited as a unique platform for diverse applications such as chiral sensing and catalysis. Indeed, in recent years, there has been rapid progress in the research of nanoscale chirality both from the experimental and theoretical perspectives. Some of these breakthroughs are highlighted in this special issue. We are grateful to the various leading experts in the field for their contributions to this collection, and excited to share with you the latest advances of nanoscale chirality. We look forward to an even brighter future of the field. Happy reading…… Shaowei Chen received his B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1991, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in 1993 and 1996, respectively. Following a postdoctoral appointment in the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, he started his independent career in Southern Illinois University - Carbondale in 1998, and then moved to the University of California - Santa Cruz in 2004. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry and the Faculty Director of the UCSC COSMOS program. His research interests are primarily focused on functional nanomaterials and electrochemical energy technologies. Zhiyong Tang obtained his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from Wuhan University in 1996, and his Ph.D. degree with Professor Erkang Wang in 1999 from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. After six years as a postdoctoral fellow in Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Oklahoma State University and University of Michigan, he joined the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, China, in November 2006 as part of the 100-Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and has been a professor ever since. His research interests are mainly focused on controllable synthesis, property manipulation and practical applications of inorganic nanomaterials. Jianping Xie is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at National University of Singapore (NUS). He received his B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, and his Ph.D. from the Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) program. His group is known for the work on engineering subnanometer-sized metal nanoclusters for biomedical and catalytic applications. His recent research interests include noble metal nanoclusters, nanomedicine, and nanocatalysis.

Oxides of Manganese As Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts

The electrolysis of water, or water splitting reaction is one of the cleanest ways of producing hydrogen and oxygen gas for fuel. Electrochemical devices employing these reactions include regenerative fuel cells and rechargeable metal-air batteries, which have the highest theoretical energy density. Considerable efforts have been dedicated towards improving the energy conversion efficiency of these devices. However, the single main obstacle for achieving this has been the lack of suitable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts that show simultaneous high activity for both oxygen reduction (ORR) and oxygen evolution (OER) reactions during charge/discharge cycles. The overpotential and slow kinetics of oxygen reactions are limiting parameters in the advancement of electrochemical storage devices. Taking inspiration from nature’s photosynthetic process that uses a Mn4O4Ca cluster in photosystem II to catalyze water splitting, we studied the efficiency of various phases of manganese oxide (MnOx) as electrocatalysts for OER and ORR process, including the role of defects on bifunctionality. Cyclic voltammetry was used to prove that Mn2O3 is a bifunctional catalyst by showing high activity for OER and ORR. Next, in-situ UV-Vis absorbance spectroscopy was conducted to track changes in the surface oxidation state as a result of occurring reactions. Finally, we use electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance to track ion intercalation into the material. Results from these studies were used to obtain a structure-defect-function correlation that can improve the design of electrocatalysts with bifunctional properties. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and National Science Foundation, CBET award (No: 1511733), for the partial financial support and Nicholas Smieszek for his assistance with the preparation of this manuscript. I.R, and Q.W also gratefully acknowledge the partial support of Howard P. Isermann fellowship provided by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at RPI.

Perceptions of Chemical Safety in Laboratories

This study investigates the state of the perceptions of chemical safety in laboratories among undergraduate students of the Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering departments at the German Jordanian University in Jordan. A cross-sectional survey was conducted anonymously with a random sample size of 174 students. A questionnaire of 32 questions was designed with five sections: demographic data, familiarity of chemical hazard signs, attitude towards chemical laboratory safety, safety practices, and familiarity with emergency equipment and procedure. The descriptive statistics showed that students demonstrated fair to good familiarity and understanding of chemical hazard warning signs. Most students had poor to fair attitudes towards chemical laboratory safety; but the assessment of students’ chemical laboratory safety practices revealed fair to good practices. While students safety awareness and practices, but not attitude, at this university were acceptable, safety procedures need to be implemented within a more professional safety education and coherent risk and safety climate management.

Avoiding the Hype in Developing Commercially Viable Desalination Technologies

Download : Download high-res image (410KB) Download : Download full-size image Jeffrey McCutcheon is the Al Geib Professor of Environmental Engineering Research & Education at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. He also serves as the Executive Director of the Fraunhofer USA Center for Energy Innovation located at the university. He is currently the President of the North American Membrane Society and has served as Director and Area Chair in the AIChE Separations Division. He is the recipient of the 2014 FRI/John G. Kunesh Award from AIChE. He has authored more than 75 refereed papers on membrane technology.

DISTILLERY WASTE WATER (SPENT WASH) BIOMETHANATION- WASTE TO ENERGY GENERATION.

04Mar 2019 DISTILLERY WASTE WATER (SPENT WASH) BIOMETHANATION- WASTE TO ENERGY GENERATION. Jyoti D. Nikam , Rajendra S. Raut and K. R. Jethani. Department of Chemical Engineering, AISSMS College of Engineering, Kennedy Road, Near RTO, Pune-01, MS, India,Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune.

Interested in gauging a population’s health? Look to sewage

Researchers are mining the stuff we excrete to get a window on drug use, antibiotic resistance, and the overall health of populations . When the Canadian government wanted to assess the impact of legalizing marijuana on its citizens’ drug use, it turned to a rich, though often unappreciated, source of data—sewage. The sewage that ends up in treatment plants such as this one may hold important clues about the health of populations. But such plants may also be hotspots for the spread of antibiotic-resistance genes. Image credit: Shutterstock/Daniel Jedzura. All of the drugs people take journey through the body, and significant amounts end up in the toilet. So since March of last year, researchers have been filling bottles once a month with sewage flowing into wastewater treatment plants in the Canadian cities of Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto, and Halifax. They send the samples to the lab of Viviane Yargeau, chair of McGill University’s chemical engineering department. There, Yargeau and her team measure the levels of 18 different drugs or their metabolites, including cannabis and cocaine. “It’s a quick way to have a snapshot of what people are consuming,” she says. Once the results are analyzed, that monthly snapshot will enable the government to see how drug use changed after marijuana became legal in October 2018. The results might even help tease out the relative proportions of legal and illegal drug use by comparing sewage levels to sales data. In sampling the output from 8.5 million Canadians every month, the study is the largest effort ever to mine wastewater’s plentiful data. “We had to buy a couple more freezers,” says Yargeau. But that work represents only a small part of a surge of interest in analyzing sewage. The aims are generally twofold: gleaning fresh insights into human behavior, biology, and health; …

C&EN talks with Paula T. Hammond, chemical engineering leader

To get a glimpse of Paula T. Hammond’s personality, she says, one simply has to enter her office at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Shelves full of texts and journals surround the self-described bookworm’s desk. Splashes of color—something she says has always been a source of delight and inspiration—come from a dozen richly hued glass vases artfully arranged within the office’s large window. The space puts one at ease, something that Hammond also has a knack for doing with her broad smile and friendly manner. But on paper, Hammond can be intimidating. Not only is she MIT’s David H. Koch Professor in Engineering, but she’s also head of the school’s Chemical Engineering Department. Reflecting her broad interest in both engineering and medicine, she’s part of the MIT Energy Initiative and a founding member of the MIT Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. She holds

Shaping the Future of Protein Engineering.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEViewpointNEXTShaping the Future of Protein EngineeringDominic J. GloverDominic J. GloverSchool of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, AustraliaMore by Dominic J. Glover, Dawei XuDawei XuDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United StatesMore by Dawei Xu, and Douglas S. Clark*Douglas S. ClarkDepartment of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, United States*Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720. E-mail: [email protected]. Phone: 510-642-2408. Fax: 510-643-1228.More by Douglas S. Clarkhttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-1516-035XCite this: Biochemistry 2019, 58, 8, 1019–1021Publication Date (Web):February 6, 2019Publication History Received31 December 2018Published online6 February 2019Published inissue 26 February 2019https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.biochem.8b01322Copyright © 2019 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views3507Altmetric-Citations3LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (3 MB) Get e-AlertsSUBJECTS:Filaments,Interfaces,Monomers,Peptides and proteins,Protein engineering Get e-Alerts

Potential of mollusks from the coastal of Merauke as protein source for local community

Telebralia palutris, Cheritidea obtusa, Siliqua winteriana, and Polymesoda bengalensis are the types of mollusks consumed by the local community in Merauke. The purpose of this study was to investigate water content, ash content, protein content, and fat content in mollusks from the coastal of Lampu Satu, Merauke. Chemical composition was analyzed in an organic chemistry laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Politeknik Negeri Ujung Pandang, Makassar. Analysis of protein content used semi micro-Kjeldahl method, while analysis fat contents use soxhletase. The result of the study revealed that the highest content of water, 78.66% was Telebralia palutris, the highest content of ash, 28.13% was Telebralia palutris, and the highest content of fat, 14.53% was Polymesoda bengalensis and the high content of protein 42.01 was Polymesoda bengalensis. Based on the result, Polymesoda bengalensis could be a good animal protein and fat resource to complete protein necessity and fat beside meat and fish. These Bivalvia and Gastropoda from Mollusca phylum are potential and have economic value to be developed as a protein and fat resources in completing of needs for Indonesia society in general and Merauke in particular.

Cation−Solvent, Cation−Anion, and Solvent−Solvent Interactions with Electrolyte Solvation in Lithium batteries

AbstractThe front cover artwork is provided by the group of Prof. Zhang from the department of chemical engineering, Tsinghua University. The image shows the cation–solvent, cation–anion, and solvent–solvent interactions in the electrolytes of lithium batteries, which are similar to the scene of ballet. With electrolyte solvation, these interactions are much weakened, exhibiting longer Li−O/N bond length. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/batt.201800118.

Cr(VI) mediated hydrolysis of algae cell walls to release TOC for enhanced biotransformation of Cr(VI) by a culture of Cr(VI) reducing bacteria

The authors would like to thank the University of Pretoria and the Water Utilization and Environmental Engineering Division at the University of Pretoria for the research support. The research was partially funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa through Grant No. CSUR180215313534 awarded to Prof Evans M. N. Chirwa of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Maria Roestorff (Grant No: 114172). Additional funding was provided by the Sedibeng Water Chair in Water Utilization Engineering in the Water Utilization Division at the University of Pretoria.

Corrigendum: Numerical study of heat and mass transfer enhancement for bubble absorption process of ammonia-water mixture without and with nanofluids

NUMERICAL STUDY OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT FOR BUBBLE ABSORPTION PROCESS OF AMMONIA-WATER MIXTURE WITHOUT AND WITH NANOFLUIDS by Mohamed Bechir BEN HAMIDA, Jalel BELGHAIEB, and Nejib HAJJI Research Unit of Energy and Environment, National School of Engineers of Gabes, University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia Original scientific paper https://doi.org/10.2298/TSCI170313229B published in the journal Thermal Science, Year 2018, No. 6B, Vol. 22, pp. 3107-3120 since due to mistake of the Editorial staff, affiliations have not been written correctly, and are the following: NUMERICAL STUDY OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT FOR BUBBLE ABSORPTION PROCESS OF AMMONIA-WATER MIXTURE WITHOUT AND WITH NANOFLUIDS by Mohamed Bechir BEN HAMIDA1, Jalel BELGHAIEB2,3, and Nejib HAJJI2,3 1 College of Engineering, Chemical Engineering Department, Hail University, Hail City, Saudi Arabia 2National School of Engineers of Gabes (ENIG), Department of Process Engineering, University of Gabes, Tunisia 3Research Unit of Energy & Environment Ionized, National School of Engineers of Gabes (ENIG), University of Gabes, Tunisia. <br><br><font color="red"><b> Link to the corrected article <u><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/TSCI170313229B">10.2298/TSCI170313229B</a></b></u>

Assessment for Effective Lecture on Knowledge Retention towards Student Learning with Web-based Educational Tools

This study assessed the effective lecture for knowledge retention towards student learning. The survey involved 42 university students (fourth year in Chemical Engineering and Sustainability Energy Department, UNIMAS) where all of them were tested before and after the class through a 10 questions quiz as assessment. From this quiz assessment, only 50% (21 students) of the students managed to answer at least 7 questions correctly before the lecture was delivered. After delivering lecture, 100% (42 students) of the students managed to answer 10 questions correctly. However, after four weeks, only 90% (38 students) of the students managed to score 10 questions correctly due to short knowledge retention.

In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy for Energy Applications

Jing Li obtained her BSc from Shandong University, China in 2012 and her PhD from Stony Brook University in 2018, both in Material Science. She was awarded the Presidential Scholar Award twice (2014 and 2015) from the Microscopy Society of America. Her PhD research is on probing reaction dynamics of battery electrode materials in real time using in situ transmission electron microscopy. She is currently working in the semiconductor industry in Silicon Valley, USA. Grayson Johnson obtained his BSc in Chemistry with a specialization in chemical physics at the University of Virginia (2016). Currently, he is a PhD candidate at the University of Virginia with Prof. Sen Zhang. His research interests are primarily in both theoretical and experimental surface chemistry of nanomaterials for oxygen electrocatalysis and CO2-to-fuel conversion. Sen Zhang is an assistant professor of Chemistry at the University of Virginia. He obtained his BSc in polymer chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China (2008) and his PhD degree in Chemistry from Brown University (2014). He was a NatureNet Postdoc Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania from 2014 to 2016. His current research interests include controlled synthesis, assembly, and characterization of nanosized electrocatalysis for energy or environmental applications. Dong Su is a staff scientist at Center for Functional Nanomaterials in Brookhaven National Laboratory and an adjunct professor in the Materials Science and Chemical Engineering Department of Stony Brook University. He obtained his BSc (1998) and PhD (2003) in condensed matter physics from Nanjing University, China. Before joining Brookhaven Lab in 2008, he performed postdoctoral work at EPFL in Switzerland, at University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign, and at Arizona State University. His current research focuses on developing advanced electron micrscopy techniques for in situ characterization of energy-related materials.

BioTM Buzz (Volume 4, Issue 1).

BioTM Buzz (Volume 4, Issue 1).

Learning by doing: Chem-E-Car® motivating experience

Since 2013 a group of professors from the Chemical Engineering Department of Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has implemented a teaching tool based on the concept of “learning by doing” that has been successfully used in the US to increase motivation of students. This tool consists of a competition, called Chem-E-Car®, which helps to teach not only specific, but also transversal competences of the undergraduate students. They have to design, build and move a car controlled by a chemical reaction that it has to travel a specified distance while carrying a certain amount of water.The Chem-E-Car® World Competition took place at the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, in 2017, and the students’team from UCM presented a Chem-E-Car® moved by a battery based on an oxidation-reduction reaction and stopped by means of an iodine timer. It has been the first time that UCM has competed and the first time that the competition has taken place in Spain.Chem-E-Car® has contributed to develop both the application of Chemical Engineering knowledge and professional skills. Chem-E-Car® project has allowed the students to incorporate new abilities, such as team-working, leading, facing personal and professional troubles, interpreting and applying rules, project management and safety hazards.

PELATIHAN PEMBUATAN BIODIESEL DARI MINYAK JELANTAH SKALA LABORATORIUM DI SMP NEGERI 5 PANGKALAN PANJI BANYUASIN SUMATERA SELATAN

This community service activity for processing used cooking oil into biodiesel was carried out at Banyuasin III SMPN 5, South Sumatra. Around the school there are many fried traders and tent stalls that have the potential to produce used cooking oil. Seeing this potential, the community service team of the Sriwijaya Polytechnic Department of Chemical Engineering provided training to students and teachers of the South Sumatra Banyuasin SMPN 5 to make laboratory-scale biodiesel from used cooking oil. Biodiesel production can be used to increase the potential of human resources and preserve the environment from used cooking oil pollutants. The method of implementing this service activity is with the pattern of field schools with press points on the exploration of knowledge, awareness of the environment, and skills and forms of approach taken to increase the motivation of students and teachers as partners and able to process used cooking oil into biodiesel by socializing about the importance of saving fossil fuels, protecting the environment and producing alternative fuels from used cooking oil which are often found in everyday life.