CHARACTERIZING, MEASURING, AND MODELING THE PROPERTIES OF NATIVE AND TREATED BIOLOGICAL AND BIOBASED MATERIALS FOR PROCESSING AND NOVEL MATERIALS

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: HATCH
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1009850
• Project Start Date: Jul 1, 2016
• Project End Date: Jun 30, 2021
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY
208 MUELLER LABORATORY
UNIVERSITY PARK,PA 16802

Performing Department
Agri & Biological Engineering

Non Technical Summary
As the world population continues to climb beyond seven billion, our natural resources are increasingly tapped. However, population growth is not an isolated factor; per capita consumption of materials and energy is simultaneously rising, particularly in developing countries. The impact on food and fiber crops will be significant. USDA is now projecting that global economic and population growth will lead to increased crop consumption through 2022, with much of the demand coming from developing countries. Simultaneously, environmental ethical concerns are motivating individuals and corporations to consider more sustainable and eco-friendly materials. Evidence for this is the rise of corporate social responsibility, green buildings, and eco-labeling programs. Together, these factors motivate increased interest in using renewable and sustainable materials and energy. Biobased materials from agricultural, forest, and biological sources (bacteria, algae) are abundant, renewable, and sustainable feedstocks for future materials. Now more than ever, developing novel materials and measurement methods and time- and cost-efficient processes that increasingly make use of our renewable biological and biobased feedstock are of paramount importance.Toward that end, the project team of agricultural and biological engineers has been making contributions toward this transformation. As evidence, from the just-completed project, Mechanics of Particulate Biomass Feedstock Systems (PEN04436), three major takeaway messages emerged; the need for an integrated three-scale scrutiny (1) submicron scale - fundamental characterization and measurement of properties of the fiber-based lignocellulosic biomaterials, and composites made of them; (2) micrometer to millimeter scale - a unified multiscale theory complemented with devices and methods for experiments at multiple scales of scrutiny; from micrometer to millimeter scales; and (3) millimeter and above scales - innovation of biomass harvesting and processing technology for macro scale simulation and modeling engineering processes during the interaction of biomass materials and mechanical components. Accordingly, the major goal of this project is to integrate and inform the role and impact of mechanical and chemical treatments on biological materials. Toward that end, two specific objectives spanning submicron to micron to macro scales are formulated, (1) to measure and model the mechanics and properties of native and treated biological materials, and (2) to analyze the impact of various native and applied chemical treatments to the chemical, mechanical, and physical characteristics of biobased materials and composites. If successful, the outcomes and deliverables are expected to contribute to the long-term sustainable participation of producers, handlers, processers, and scientists and engineers in the agricultural enterprise as dominant players in the several sectors such as chemical, energy, novel foods, pharmaceuticals, renewable biobased novel materials, and emerging opportunities.

Animal Health Component

34%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

33%

Applied

34%

Developmental

33%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
402	5310	2020	33%
511	2299	2020	34%
511	0650	2000	33%

Knowledge Area
511 - New and Improved Non-Food Products and Processes; 402 - Engineering Systems and Equipment;

Subject Of Investigation
2299 - Miscellaneous and new crops, general/other; 0650 - Wood and wood products; 5310 - Machinery and equipment;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 2000 - Chemistry;

Keywords

bioenergy

biofuel

willow

miscanthus

switchgrass

particles

ground material

computational models

multiscale models

mechanics

mechanical properties

energy crop

processing

harvesting

cellulose

polysaccharides

composites

sustainable

packaging

healthcare

Goals / Objectives
The major goal of this project is to integrate and inform the role and impact of mechanical and chemical treatments on biological materials. Toward that end, two objectives representing below and above micrometer length scales of scrutiny are formulated. These are,Submicron scales - to analyze the impact of various native and applied chemical treatments to the chemical, mechanical, and physical characteristics of biobased materials and composites,Micrometer, millimeter, and macro scales - to measure and model the mechanics and properties of native and treated biological materials.

Project Methods
For each of the two project objectives, the general procedure is summarized in this section. Specific steps will be added depending on the test materials.Objective 1 - To analyze the impact of various native and applied chemical treatments to the chemical, mechanical, and physical characteristics of biobased materials and composites.At submicron scale, investigating the chemistry, mechanics, and physical properties of biobased materials and composites requires the use of many types of analyses and equipment. Typical techniques for probing biopolymer chemistry include a range of spectroscopies and diffraction techniques, which specify the types of atoms present, their connectivity within the molecule, and their arrangement or morphology. Such techniques include spectroscopies: nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and Raman; as well and diffraction techniques: X-ray (XRD), Wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAX), and Synchrotron diffraction. Other analyses also inform the chemistry, including quartz crystal microbalance, and surface plasmon resonance experiments. Thermal analysis techniques provide information about relaxations and decomposition of biopolymers, both of which correlate with mechanics and physical properties. These include dynamic mechanical analysis, rheology, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. We also have electron microscopies that are coupled with elemental analysis techniques to explore chemistry at the molecular (nanometer) scale. Atomic force microscopy provides detailed morphological information. Light microscopy allows larger scale physical properties to be explored. A variety of additional techniques may also be useful, such as tear tests, shear tests, moisture uptake tests, fungal degradation monitoring, etc. Pending the specific application, different methods would be used. The results from this scale will inform and be linked to the development of the multiscale model in Objective 2.2.Objective 2 - To measure and model the mechanics and properties of native and treated biological materialsThe proposed research at above micron scale of scrutiny will begin with the selection of representative biofeedstock candidate materials. Selection of biofeedstock will be done with consideration on species' representativeness as promising feedstock for biobased renewable energy production.Micrometer to millimeter scales - a multiscale integrative framework Herein, the biomaterials will be size-reduced to have a desired particle size distribution. A micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) inspired device adapted for soft biomaterials will be used.A MEMS device is a miniaturized mechanical and electro-mechanical device, which is fabricated typically using an integrated circuit batch processing technique and can range in size from a few micrometers to millimeters. In general, a MEMS device consists of mechanical microstructures, microsensors, microactuators, and microelectronics, integrated onto the same silicon chip with the ability to sense, control, and actuate on the microscale. This technology has been successfully used in various applications such as automotive sensors, medical pressure sensors, inkjet printer head, overhead projector display, biotechnology, medicine and communication. The nanoscale resolution of the force and displacement of a MEMS testing device could be exploited in characterizing mechanical properties of individual particles.We plan to use customized MEMS-based force sensors to measure mechanical properties of single particles of ground biomaterials with and without the presence of added moisture that can alter mechanical properties of the particles. From the measurement of the mechanical responses, we will determine fundamental elastic and elastoplastic constants as shown with MEMS devices successfully adapted for testing microscale primary cell wall fragments for the first time.Since an assembly of two bound particles represents the stepping stone to the formation of the pellet or tablet, mechanical testing of two-particle assemblies will provide the essential and foundational information. Therefore, our focus will be on determining mechanical response of two-particle systems to provide baseline data, upon which further investigation of other interaction mechanisms is possible. We plan to use customized MEMS-based force sensors to measure mechanical properties of particle-particle interactions such as the binding force between individual particles of ground biomaterials.The experimental results will form the basis for a hybrid discrete element method and finite element method schema for developing and testing a multiscale framework computational model. For this project, the scrutiny will be on micro (particle) and meso-scales for unification with the macro-scale (millimeter and above scale) models in sub-objective below.Millimeter and above scales - innovation of biomass harvesting and processing technology for macro scale simulation and modelingCollecting biomass materials from field include two optional harvesting methods: bulk harvesting (e.g. baling) and in-field chopping/chipping (e.g. grass chopping, wood chipping). Both harvesting technologies produce biomass with particle sizes that are in millimeter and beyond length scales. These materials collected from field will need to be ground for the purpose of pelletizing. Grinding may take place in the field or at the biorefinery plants. Regardless, harvested materials need to be stored in the field locations or transported to the plants for storage. Thus, bulk densification of these biomass materials is needed to reduced storage facility needs and the transportation costs.Mechanical properties of biomass particles in the millimeter above length scale size range are needed to simulate engineering processes of harvesting and bulk densifying harvested biomass materials. Bending, compressing, and cutting are three fundamental processes, while loading conditions during these mechanical processes are simulating the engineering reality.To achieve this objective, experimental studies and modeling will be conducted. Experimental studies will include cutting, bending, and compressing a single plant sample (a stem or a branch), and a bundle of plant samples. Small bulk sample tests will also be conducted to obtain relationships between individual and bulk plant matters.Biomass materials to be tested include warm season perennial grasses (switchgrass, miscanthus, and other potential energy crops) and energy woody crops (willow). Crop samples will be collected from field in different harvest seasons. Once collected from field, samples will be tested or stored in frozen conditions to maintain original moisture content plant material quality.The universal testing machine will be used in cutting, bending and compression tests. An impact tester will be constructed to study the characteristics of biomass materials under impact loading.Statistical and computational models will be developed based on the experimental results to simulate the mechanical behaviors of energy crops. In addition, quantification of the parameters will be done for processing biomass materials including strength, modulus, failure pattern, and energy consumption. The macroscale scale models will be linked with the multiscale model.

Progress 07/01/16 to 06/30/21

Outputs
Target Audience:This project targets scientific and engineering communities via journal article publication and presentations, agricultural, bioenergy, biomass industry through presentations and working meetings, and the public through presentations, emails, press releases, calls, and video conference interactions. Workshops and conference presentations also reached policy analysts and decisions makers, as well. Through collaborative research activities, our efforts reached stakeholders include state and national organizations, state and federal agencies, companies, and industry consultants. Specific segments of the agricultural and food industry that were reached through these efforts included: (1) biomass and biofuel producers, (2) agricultural machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, (6) agricultural fiber producers, (7) hemp equipment industry, (8) managers working in bioproducts industry sectors, (9) users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, (10) researchers and educators working with the Bioethics Program within and outside the university. In addition, academics (in agriculture, chemistry, food, feed, and fiber, and bioethics), students (the project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?For the span of 5 years of the project, on average, eleven graduate students and six undergraduate students actively participatein the project every year. In addition, three visiting scholars, and seven post-doctoral researchers participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-graduate researchers were trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?1. For the dissemination of new knowledge in the academic field, personnel involved in this project has actively participated in and presented at international, national, and regional conferences. Also, we continue to produce publications in a reputable peer-reviewed journal with a broad readership. 2. Technology transfer to the agricultural and other relevant industries is a major activity of this project. Numerous presentations are made to visitors from industries that have been made as one way of disseminating results. 3. Undergraduate and graduate students are being exposed to research results obtained through courses. These courses include BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density and time-dependent responses such as stress relaxation measurements. 4. Department events and tours: Results are being or will continue to be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and student parents and through our departments' two industry advisory boards, i.e. Agricultural and Biological Engineering and BioRenewable Systems Publication in peer-reviewed journals, presentation at professional society meetings, press releases, meetings and conference calls with companies, students, and individuals from the public. Specifics of these activities and products are detailed in a separate section. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: We accomplished (1) an optimized compostable and edible polysaccharide-based barrier coating was demonstrated for food and other packagings, food engineering, and other applications. (2) An optimized polysaccharide-based foam was produced for wound care and tissue engineering. The foam can also be used as a product in clothing, luggage, and construction applications. (3) A process for making increased length crystalline nanocellulose was developed. (4) A method for making mechanically improved bacterial cellulose was developed involving co-culture of two microorganisms and a novel bioreactor design. (5) A new 3D printing bio-ink was developed and demonstrated (preliminarily) that may offer improved mechanical and cell/tissue growth properties. (6) An experiment was conducted involving the impact of a cellulose-binding dye on the formation of bacterial cellulose that supports a model for cellulose assembly in nature, potentially resolving one unanswered question regarding how the crystalline cellulose microfibril forms in nature. (7) Native wood species treated with hemicelluloses were characterized in order to better understand the thermal role of hemicelluloses in wood cell wall relaxations. (8) New bio-based food packaging products were tested with consumers, and in the Penn State compost facility, (9) assisted National Institutes of Standards and Technology in writing standards for bio-based product measurement; (10) consulted with other universities (e.g., U of Virginia and Indiana University) to assist them in meeting zero waste goals; (11) assisted Department of Defense installation to reduce waste and costs; (12) a manufacturing process for an optimized polysaccharide-based foam for wound care and tissue engineering was developed; additionally, commercialization of the foam as a product in clothing, luggage and construction applications was completed; (13) commercialization of an optimized compostable and edible polysaccharide- based barrier coating for food and other packaging, food engineering and other applications continues to be pursued; (14) examination and development a new 3D printing bio-ink that may offer improved mechanical and cell/tissue growth properties continues to be a major focus; (15) co-culturing of microorganisms to produce improved bacterial cellulose composites for biomedical and other applications is also being pursued, (16) successful production of biocomposites made from switchgrass and miscanthus, biochars, talc, and polypropylene in an injection moulding process, (17), the effective biofoam using a swine femoral artery hemorrhage model in conjunction with doctors from the Hershey Medical Center, and (18) polysaccharide-based barrier product compositions were further refined for several companies focusing on food handling products such as corrugated cardboard, plates, bowls, straws, and paperboard containers. Goal 2: We investigated the physical and mechanical properties of ground willow and quality of willow pellets were determined and compared with already published properties of more commonly used bioenergy crops, i.e., switchgrass. Rational explanations were provided for why certain mechanical properties were correlated well with pellet qualities. We also instrumented a flat-die pelletizer, in which several sensors were mounted to monitor the temperature/pressure as well as energy consumption during the pelletization process. From dynamic pressure and temperature measurements, a relationship was noted between pressure and pelletizing duration. The radial pressure acting on the wall of the pressing channel decreases exponentially as a function of the depth within the pelletizer die. The correlation between each measured parameter shows a strong positive correlation between the rate of baseline pressure increase and temperature increase (r=0.92), and between average baseline pressure and average peak pressure (0.91). Comparison between model simulation results and measured data reveals a relative mean absolute error (RMAE) ranging from 0.04 to 0.16 for the conditions tested in this study. The friction coefficient mu equal to 0.317 for Switchgrass pelletization and 0.319 for willow resulted in the least squared error for all tests. The differences between modeled and actual measured data indicate that quantitative measurement of the pelletization process can allow us to improve current mechanistic models and provide a better understanding of pelletization. We developed a computational model of continuum-scale constitutive equations to improve biomass feedstock material handling and conveying systems were investigated. Existing design practices for common feedstock handling equipment such as hoppers and screw feeders have not been successful in many situations. The lack of an appropriate toolset to characterize and model biomass flow behavior is the root cause of plugging, stalls, and flow-related issues in biomass handling systems design & operations. New standardized characterization protocols, with appropriate constitutive models, will lead to successful biomass handling system design and operations. A study was started to investigate constitutive models for bulk solid flow based on the first principles to overcome issues in biomass handling. The focus was on 2 major issues in biomass handling and focused on analytical models of biomass hopper flow. Mohr-Coulomb, Drucker-Prager, and modified Cam-clay models were investigated as constitutive bulk solid flow models. Parameters of those models were determined using a set of triaxial tests conducted using the cubical triaxial tester (CTT). It was found that, with the same hopper geometry, ground corn stover 1 mm tended to exhibit funnel flow whereas ground Douglas fir 2 mm tended to exhibit mass flow. These simulation results were validated with hopper flow experiments. This research highlights the advantages of a CTT in the characterization of mechanical properties of bulk biomass, which is a stepping-stone for engineering reliable biomass handling. We investigated the mechanics of high-speed dynamic cutting using a novel device for energy crop stem samples was performed and results were processed for miscanthus bale compression. This study was expanded to study the cutting strength of miscanthus using a high-speed dynamic cutting device. An MS thesis was written based on this research; and, the MS student has passed his defense. The group continued to develop a conceptual design of hemp harvesting equipment in which we are gaining an insight into the purpose of fiber decorticating. They tested three design concepts for hemp fiber decorticating mechanisms in the laboratory. We initiated a new project, Hemp Harvesting Technologies. Large-scale hemp production is facing the same logistical and equipment challenges with biomass harvesting and processing. The findings of this research will be widely applicable to the biomass area. As a result, we accomplished collaborative relationships with CNH and other industrial partners, trained 4 graduate students, and attended ASABE, NABEC, and other professional society conferences. Our accomplishments also include the impacts on highlighting deceptive behavior by some consumer wood-based products that were mislabeling wood species on retail packaging. We share critical info related to end-of-life options for used bioproducts with the users. We also assisted the wood-based industries to operate forklifts and pallet jacks more safely, thus perhaps avoiding severe injuries and fatalities. We initiated and continued to integrate ethics education into the biological engineering curriculum.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Charles T. Anderson1, Hojae Yi2, Yintong Chen1, Wenlong Li3, Dolzodmaa Davaasuren4, James Z. Wang4, Joseph A. Turner. 2021. "The origins of strength and flexibility: modeling development and dynamics in stomatal guard cells." in 2021 Minisymposium at the International Conference on Arabidopsis Research (ICAR). June 21-25, 2021: The Arabidopsis Algorithm: Mathematical Modeling in Plant Biology
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Bokhari, S. M., Chi, K., & Catchmark, J. M. (2021). Structural and physico-chemical characterization of industrial hemp hurd: Impacts of chemical pretreatments and mechanical refining. Industrial Crops and Products, 171, 113818.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yin, X., Tang, S., Yong, Q., Zhang, X., & Catchmark, J. M. (2021). Oriented 2D metal organic framework coating on bacterial cellulose for nitrobenzene removal from water by filtration.�Separation and Purification Technology,�276, 119366.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Tang, S., Chi, K., Yong, Q., & Catchmark, J. M. (2021). Synthesis of cationic bacterial cellulose using a templated metal phenolic network for antibacterial applications.�Cellulose, 1-14.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Agarwal, U. P., Reiner, R. S., Ralph, S. A., Catchmark, J., Chi, K., Foster, E. J., ... & Hirth, K. C. (2021). Characterization of the supramolecular structures of cellulose nanocrystals of different origins.�Cellulose,�28(3), 1369-1385.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hu, H., Catchmark, J. M., & Demirci, A. (2021). Co-culture fermentation on the production of bacterial cellulose nanocomposite produced by Komagataeibacter hansenii.�Carbohydrate Polymer Technologies and Applications,�2, 100028.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Chae, I., Bokhari, S. M., Chen, X., Zu, R., Liu, K., Borhan, A., Gopalan, V., Catchmark, J. M. & Kim, S. H. (2021). Shear-induced unidirectional deposition of bacterial cellulose microfibrils using rising bubble stream cultivation.�Carbohydrate Polymers,�255, 117328.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Tang, S., Chi, K., Xu, H., Yong, Q., Yang, J., & Catchmark, J. M. (2021). A covalently cross-linked hyaluronic acid/bacterial cellulose composite hydrogel for potential biological applications.�Carbohydrate Polymers,�252, 117123.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yin, X., S. Tang, Q. Yong, J. M. Catchmark�and X. Zhang, 2021. Oriented 2D Metal Organic Framework Coatings on Modified Bacterial Cellulose for Separations. 2020 AIChE Annual Meeting.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Lin, W.S. and J. M. Catchmark. 2021. Sustainable packaging adhesives prepared with polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complexes. 2021 Spring Annual ACS Meeting.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Nazemi A. P. and Catchmark, J. M. 2021.�Synthesis and characterization of sustainable cellulose-based barrier coatings for packaging applications. 2021 Spring Annual ACS Meeting
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hetian Hu. 2020. " Production of Bacterial Cellulose with Enhanced Mechanical Properties Using Pullulan Additive and Co-Culturing Methods. Pennsylvania State University. MS Dissertation.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Michael, J and Ray, C. 2020. New Protocol for Species Mix Testing in Retail Mulch Samples. Wood and Fiber Science, V. 52(4), pp. 1-9.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Michael, J and Gorucu, S. 2020. Analysis of Forklift and Pallet Jack Injuries in Wood-Related Industries. Forest Products Journal, Vol 70 No.4.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Michael, J. and Echols, A. 2020. Corporate responsibility via community betterment: characterizing firms and communities in a sample of SME wood manufacturers. BioProducts Business, 5(4), 2020, pp. 3750.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Liu, J. 2021. Industrial hemp harvesting and processing technology. University and Industry Consortium (UIC) Spring Meeting, June 22-24, 2021, Fort Collins, CO (Invited Panel Speaker; postponed from 2020 Spring due to COVID-19)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Fasick, G. and J. Liu. 2020. Lab scale studies of miscanthus mechanical conditioning and bale compression, Volume 200, December 2020, Pages 366-376.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Chrostopher J. Laning, Matthew Wamsley, James Slosson, James H. Dooley, Virendra M. Puri. 2021. "Variations in the Bulk Physical and Mechanical Properties of Milled Corn Stover and Woody Biomass Due to the Moisture Content." in 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Paper no. 2100532
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Chrostopher J. Laning, Matthew Wamsley, James Slosson, James H. Dooley, Virendra M. Puri. 2021. "Comparison of Three Biomass Flowability Models using Cubical Triaxial Tester Data Sets." in 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Paper no. 2100534
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Chrostopher J. Laning, Matthew Wamsley, James Slosson, James H. Dooley, Virendra M. Puri. 2021. "Flow Behavior Prediction of Milled Biomass Feedstocks out of a Gravity Hopper." in 2021 ASABE Annual International Meeting. Virtual: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Paper no. 2100533

Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20

Outputs
Target Audience:Efforts on sustainable materials, biomass, hemp, and bioproducts targets scientific and engineering communities via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentations and working meetings and the public through presentations, emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Workshops and conference presentations also reached policy analysts and decisionmakers, as well. Through collaborative research activities, our efforts reached to stakeholders include state and national organizations, state and federal agencies, companies and industry consultants. Specific segments of agricultural and food industry that were reached through these efforts included: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, (6) agricultural fiber producers, (7) hemp equipment industry, (8) managers working in bioproducts industry sectors, (9) users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, (10) researchers and educators working with the Bioethics Program within and outside the university. In addition, academics (in agriculture, chemistry, food, feed, and fiber, and bioethics), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Dr. Catchmark's efforts relative to ethics targets researchers and educators via journal article publication and presentations and working with the Bioethics Program, on university committees and others from the Rock Ethics Institute. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Twelve graduate students actively participated in the project through their theses/dissertation research,and presentations in conferences orspecialty field days. In addition, one post-doctoral researcher, and seven undergraduates participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-doctoral researchers are being trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. In addition, training to the University of Indiana staff regarding proper procurement and use of compostable items was provided. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? For the dissemination of new knowledge in the academic field, personnel involved in this project haveactively participated in and presented at international, national, and regional conferences. Also, we continue to produce publications in reputable peer-reviewed journals with a broad readership. Technology transfer to the agricultural and other relevant industries is a major activity of this project. Numerous presentations are made to visitors from industries that have been made as one way of disseminating results. Undergraduate and graduate students are being exposed to research results obtained through courses. These courses include BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density and time-dependent responses such as stress relaxation measurements. Department events and tours: Results are being or will continue to be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and students' parents and through our department'stwo industry advisory boards, i.e., Agricultural and Biological Engineering and BioRenewable Systems. Specifics of these activities and products are detailed in a separate section. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue basic research on advanced materials development involving polysaccharides Continue work on technology commercialization to remove plastic and other unsustainable chemicals from entering our environment Continue work on biomedical materials to improve healthcare Continue work on ethics, ethical organizational management, and ethics education Revise and publish a submitted manuscript on miscanthus mechanical property tests Continue on hemp harvesting equipment conceptual design and lab studies Continue working with users of bioproducts to assist in purchasing decisions and end-of-life options for used products. Continue working with managers in the bioproducts industry and users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, and ethics, ethical organizational management, and ethics education Continue to work on implementing engineering approaches in biomass handling equipment design and operations Develop a micro-scale mechanical device that can characterize the mechanical properties of biomass particles and interactions between biomass particles - This effort is expected to produce novel and quantitative knowledge that will bridge the knowledge gap between biomass flow and handling behavior at the macroscopic scale and underlying mechanical origin at the microscopic scale including biomass particle's mechanical properties, and friction and cohesion between biomass particles.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Dr. Catchmark's group developed specific barrier product compositions for several companies focusing on food handling products such as plates, bowls, straws, and paperboard containers. Specifically, a coating solution was developed with the needed viscosity and particle size properties to coat pressed pulp substrates (Conagra, Sonoco) with high porosity relative to paperboard or paper substrates like copy paper. The formulation consists of mixing carboxymethyl cellulose and chitosan at a 1:1 ratio in an aqueous solution exhibiting a pH of approximately 4.8 with a total solids loading ranging from 4.5-8%. Then 30% of glycerol w/w was added to the mixture and the total contents were placed in a laboratory ball milling machine and mixed for 20 minutes. The solution was then briefly homogenized with a T25 disperser to eliminate large particles. Many substrates were coated, supplied by the companies mentioned above. This formulation was optimized for paperboard and paper. Dr. Catchmark's group secured a license agreement from a company to explore the manufacturing of the paper coating composition.They also worked to develop a manufacturing process for an optimized polysaccharide-based foam for wound care and tissue engineering. Specifically, developed two additional approaches for manufacturing a starch-based biomedical foam. A patent was submitted. Also, continued work on an nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) characterization approach that may be able to predict specific physical properties of such polyelectrolyte compositions that are important to wound care such as solubility and stability based on a quantitative measure of crosslinking. Goal 2: Dr. Michael's group continued to integrate ethics education into the biological engineering curriculum. Dr. Liu's group studied the cutting strength of miscanthus using a high-speed dynamic cutting device. An MSthesis was written based on this research;and, the MS student has passed his defense. Thegroup continued to developa conceptual design of hemp harvesting equipment in which we are gaining an insight into the purpose of fiber decorticating. Theytested three design concepts for hemp fiber decorticating mechanisms in the laboratory. Dr. Yi's groupused aflat-die pelletizerfor instrumentation. Several sensors were mounted to monitor the temperature/pressure as well as energy consumption during the pelletization process.From dynamic pressure and temperature measurements, a relationship was noted between pressure and pelletizing duration. The radial pressure acting on the wall of the pressing channel decreases exponentially as a function of the depth within the pelletizer die. In addition, the temperature of the die increases linearly during the pelletizing process and it also decreases along with the thickness of the die. The average energy consumption for switchgrass pelletization is 25% higher than for willow. The average duration for Switchgrass is 27% higher than for willow. The correlation between each measured parameter shows a strong positive correlation between the rate of baseline pressure increase and temperature increase (r=0.92), and between average baseline pressure and average peak pressure (0.91). Comparison between model simulation results and measured data reveals a relative mean absolute error (RMAE) ranging from 0.04 to 0.16 for the conditions tested in this study. The friction coefficient muequal to 0.317 for Switchgrass pelletization and 0.319 for willow resulted in the least squared error for all tests. The differences between modeled and actual measured data indicate that quantitative measurement of the pelletization process can allow us to improve current mechanistic models and provide a better understanding of pelletization. Dr. Yi's group measurement of biomass mechanical properties for flow from hopper bins and for use in screw conveying are continued to characterize the biomass flowability using the Cubical Triaxial Tester (CTT). This research highlights the advantages of a CTT in the characterization of mechanical properties of bulk biomass, which is a steppingstone for engineering reliable biomass handling. Dr. Yi's group computationally modeled and simulated biomass flow in a hopper using the finite element modeling approach. Underlying constitutive theories of different material models assist in investigating the mechanical behavior of a particulate system, including the flow characteristics of ground biomass. This study demonstrates hopper flow models of two types of biomass, i.e., ground Corn stover and Douglas fir, with the Mohr-Coulomb model, which is based on Jenike's approach, modified Cam-Clay model, and Drucker-Prager/Cap model. The modeling results are compared with hopper flow experiments to highlights the advantages and shortfalls of each constitutive biomass flow model. Dr. Yi's gorup quantified the effects of moisture on biomass flow characteristics using the CTT, which is a true triaxial tester with a flexible pressure application membrane that minimizes the interference of the test device with the mechanical responses of a specimen. Different fundamental mechanical properties of bulk ground biomass across a range of moisture levels, which range from air-dried equilibrium moisture content to 50% (w.b.), have been determined using a CTT. By examining the change in mechanical properties with respect to the differences in the moisture level of Corn stover and Douglas fir particulate materials, it was found that moisture content alters physical and flow parameters of milled Corn stover and Douglas fir significantly. Especially, it was found that there exists an optimal moisture content level for handling characteristics depending on the biomass feedstock.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Basu, Snehasish, Jeffrey M. Catchmark, Nicole R. Brown, Charles T. Anderson, and Ireneusz P. Gorniak. 2020. "BcsAB Synthesized Cellulose on Nickel Surface: Polymerization of Monolignols during Cellulose Synthesis Alters Cellulose Morphology." Cellulose (London) 27 (10): 5629-5639.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Michael, J. and Echols, A. 2020. Corporate responsibility via community betterment: characterizing firms and communities in a sample of SME wood manufacturers. BioProducts Business, 5(4), 2020, pp. 3750.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Michael, J. and Elser, N. 2019. Personal waste management in higher education: A Case study illustrating the importance of a fourth bottom line. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-03-2018-0054.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Caliskan-Aydogan, Oznur, Hojae Yi, James R. Schupp, Daeun Choi, Paul H. Heinemann, and Virendra M. Puri. 2020. Thermal Properties of Gala Apples during Growing Season for Predicting Harvest Time. Transactions of the ASABE 63 (2): 30515. https://doi.org/10.13031/trans.13417.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hetian Hu, Jeffrey M. Catchmark, Ali Demirci. 2020. Study of a Novel Co-culturing Fermentation for Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposite Production. 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting 2000031. (doi:10.13031/aim.202000031)
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Catchmark, J. M.. 2020. INVITED. Polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complexes: a sustainable platform for biobarrier materials in packaging applications. ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo. Was to be held March 22-26, 2020 but cancelled due to COVID-19.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Catchmark, J. M. 2019. Ethics and the Two Cultures: The Need for Transdisciplinary Research and Education. Penn State Millennium Caf�. Oct. 8. 2019. University Park, PA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Catchmark, J.M. 2019. ABE Capstone Design involving Biotechnology Companies. Penn State  CSL Behring Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology External Industry Advisory Board Meeting. Sept.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Catchmark, J. M. 2020. We apologize for the inconvenience: The role of ethics in translating science fiction into science fact. Invited lecture for LA 197 Bioethics and Science Fiction. July 26, 2020. University Park, PA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hetian Hu, Jeffery M. Catchmark, and Ali Demirci. 2020. Production of Bacterial Cellulose with Enhanced Mechanical Properties Using Pullulan Additive and Co-culturing Methods. Penn State College of Engineering Research Symposium. April 14, 2020. University Park, PA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Christopher J. Lanning, Matthew Wamsley, Virendra M Puri, and James H Dooley. 2020. Effects of Moisture on the Fundamental Mechanical Properties in the Prediction of the Flowability of Biomass. In 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Virendra M Puri, Christopher J. Lanning, and James H Dooley. 2020. Determination of Fundamental Mechanical Properties of Biomass Using the Cubical Triaxial Tester to Model Biomass Flow. In 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yi, H., Chen, Y., Rui, Y., Kandemir, B., Davaasuren, D., Wang, J. Z., Anderson, C. T., Puri, V. M., SES, "Modelling the Mechanics of Stomatal Complexes to Determine the Functional Contributions of Cell Wall Components," Society of Engineering Science, Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Anderson, C. T., Chen, Y., Rui, Y., Yi, H., Kandemir, B., Davaasuren, D., Wang, J. Z., Puri, V. M., SES, "Plant cell walls as targets to optimize stomatal development and dynamics," Society of Engineering Science, Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dooley, J. H., Lanning, C. J., Yi, H., Puri, V. M., ASABE 2020 Annual International Meeting, "Overview of DOE Flowability Measurement and Modeling Project at Forest Concepts and Penn State University," ASABE, Virtual.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Lanning, C. J., Yi, H., Dooley, J. H., Puri, V. M., Whitt, J. M., ASABE 2020 Annual International Meeting, "Design of a Biomass Scale Cubical Triaxial Tester," ASABE, Virtual.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yao, Wenqing, Yuanyuan Weng, and Jeffery M. Catchmark. 2020. "Improved Cellulose X-Ray Diffraction Analysis using Fourier Series Modeling." Cellulose (London) 27 (10): 5563-5579
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Virendra M Puri, Christopher J. Lanning, and James H Dooley. 2020. Finite Element Modeling of Biomass Hopper Flow. In 2020 ASABE Annual International Virtual Meeting. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Liu, Ke and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2020. "Bacterial cellulose/hyaluronic Acid Nanocomposites Production through Co-Culturing Gluconacetobacter Hansenii and Lactococcus Lactis Under Different Initial pH Values of Fermentation Media." Cellulose (London) 27 (5): 2529-2540
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Liu, Ke and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2020. "Bacterial cellulose/hyaluronic Acid Nanocomposites Production through Co-Culturing Gluconacetobacter Hansenii and Lactococcus Lactis Under Different Initial pH Values of Fermentation Media." Cellulose (London) 27 (5): 2529-2540.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Chi, Kai, Hui Wang, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2020. "Sustainable Starch-Based Barrier Coatings for Packaging Applications." Food Hydrocolloids 103: 105696.

Progress 10/01/18 to 09/30/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Several target audiences continue to be engaged that included students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Additionally, audiences were reached via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentation and working meetings and the public through emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Segments of agricultural and food industry that were reached through these efforts included: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, (6) agricultural fiber producers, (7) hemp equipment industry, (8) managers working in bioproducts industry sectors, (9) users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, (10) and (11) researchers and educators working with the Bioethics Program within and outside the university. In addition, academics (in agriculture, chemistry, food, feed, and fiber, and bioethics), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section.Several target audiences continue to be engaged that included students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Additionally, audiences were reached via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentation and working meetings and the public through emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Segments of agricultural and food industry that were reached through these efforts included: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, (6) agricultural fiber producers, (7) hemp equipment industry, (8) managers working in bioproducts industry sectors, (9) users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, (10) and (11) researchers and educators working with the Bioethics Program within and outside the university. In addition, academics (in agriculture, chemistry, food, feed, and fiber, and bioethics), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ten graduate students actively participated in the project through their theses/dissertation research and participation and presentations in conferences and specialty field days. In addition, two post-doctoral researchers, two visiting scholars, and ten undergraduates participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-doctoral researchers are being trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. In addition, training to University of Indiana staff regarding proper procurement and use of compostable items was provided. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Technology transfer: This is a major activity at this time and one way of disseminating of results to particular companies. Conferences and journal publications: Information has been disseminated through presentation at international, national, and regional conferences and journal publications as detailed in a separate section. Undergraduate students: Students are being or will continue to be exposed to research results obtained through courses. These courses include BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density and time-dependent responses such as stress relaxation measurements. Department events and tours: Results are being or will continue to be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and student parents and through our departments' two industry advisory boards, i.e. Agricultural and Biological Engineering and BioRenewable Systems. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to work toward improving further our understanding of the pelletizing of bio-feedstock materials commonly found in the Northeast U.S. Towards that end, a pellet mill with stationary die has been procured. The die has been instrumented to measure real-time pressure and temperature during the pelleting process.Measurement of biomass mechanical properties for flow from hopper bins and for use in screw conveying will be continued. The computational model for screw conveying and hopper discharge will continue to be expanded. Also, continue on hemp harvesting equipment conceptual design for the purpose of fiber decorticating. In addition, continue to work on (1) basic research on advanced materials development involving polysaccharides, (2) on technology commercialization to remove plastic and other unsustainable chemicals from entering our environment, (3) biomedical materials to improve healthcare, (4) continue working with mangers in bioproducts industry and users and specifiers of finished bioproducts such as sports venue managers, and (5) ethics, ethical organizational management and ethics education. Graduate students will write their thesis. In addition to preparing and supervising manuscripts, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students will participate in and present their work in conferences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Developed a specific barrier product compositions focusing on food handling products like plates, bowls, straws and paperboard containers. (Univ-Industry NDAs: companies include Conagra, Proctor & Gamble, Sonoco, Hoffman, D. S. Smith and others in process). A coating solution was developed with the needed viscosity and particle size properties to coat pressed pulp substrates with high porosity relative to paperboard or paper substrates like copy paper. The formulation consists of mixing carboxymethyl cellulose and chitosan at a 1:1 ratio in an aqueous solution exhibiting a pH of approximately 4.8 with a total solids loading ranging from 4.5-8%. Then 30% of glycerol w/w was added to the mixture and the total contents were placed in a laboratory ball milling machine and mixed for 20 min. The solution was then briefly homogenized with a T25 disperser to eliminate large particles. Many substrates coated were supplied by the companies above. This formulation was optimized for paperboard, paper and as a barrier and adhesive for paper straw production. Work toward development of a manufacturing process for an optimized polysaccharide based foam for wound care and tissue engineering. Specifically, developed 2 additional approaches for manufacturing a starch-based biomedical foam. An invention disclosure was submitted. Begun to develop an NMR characterization approach that may predict specific physical properties of such polyelectrolyte compositions that are important to wound care such as solubility and stability based on a quantitative measure of crosslinking. The principle finding is that the previous method for the production of the biofoam was superior to subsequent foams made using the new methodologies. The key finding is that starch-chitosan foam crosslinking and related insolubility is significantly impacted by the gelatinization of starch. Demonstration of the effectiveness of the biofoam using a swine femoral artery hemorrhage model in conjunction with doctors from the Hershey Medical Center. 10 biofoam samples were tested using 10 pigs. The 10 foams were divided into 2 sets with 2 formulations. The first was the original formulation made using microwave expansion and the second with a new method using molding. The first set performed better exhibiting improved stability. Principle findings included the need for a specific pad form factor to avoid slipping of the foam off the artery and general wound site. This has guided subsequent research. Development of a new 3D printing bio-ink that creates a new material nano/micro scale architecture that may offer improved mechanical and cell/tissue growth properties. The composition cannot be described as a patent application has not been submitted. The material represents a new tissue scaffold architecture and printable bioink formulation. Excellent results were shown using pancreatic islet cells whose growth behavior was superior to that exhibited using other materials. Demonstration of a novel microorganism co-culture process to produce improved bacterial cellulose composites for biomedical and other applications. This process involved co-culturing a Gram negative cellulose producing bacteria (Gluconacetobacter hansenii) with a pullulan producing fungi (Aureobasidiumpullulans). The pullulan produced by the fungi promotes bundling of the cellulose fibers produced by the bacteria resulting in mechanical improvements (modulus, strength). This was the first time a bacterial cellulose composite was produced via co-culturing with a fungi. Goal 2: Conducted an in-depth study of coordination number, which denotes the number of neighboring particles contacting one central particle, and the corresponding contact area that enables crucial info about the arrangement of particles for the formation of a stable assembly. Two temperatures (75 & 90 degrees C) and 2 pressures (60 & 100 MPa) were selected to form densified assemblies of biomass particles. Lengths of selected needle-shaped particles, that were chosen as central particles to determine the coordination number, were 2.2-3.0mm(2.66+/-0.19mm). The range of coordination number for switchgrass particles was 9-12 for Treatment A (75 degrees C & 60 MPa), 12-14 for Treatment B (75 degrees C & 100 MPa), 6-7 for Treatment C (90 degrees C & 60 MPa), and 8-10 for Treatment D (90 degrees C & 100 MPa). The irregular shape of the biomass particle makes the standard scale of coordination number inapplicable, where the value of 14 implies a fully densified assembly. The associated contact area of the particles can provide crucial complementary info leading to a thorough understanding of the arrangement of neighboring biomass particles. The percentage of contact area for Treatments A, B, C, and D were 58.3+/-8.8, 81.7+/-4.5, 36.2+/-4.2, and 40.3+/-2.1, respectively. Both, coordination number and associated percentage contact area, were highest for Treatment B and lowest for Treatment C. It was observed that higher pressure during the densification process results in higher coordination number and contact area, which also correlates to higher density and strength of assemblies. Coordination number and percentage contact area of all specimens were found to be positively correlated (R2=0.872). The correlation between microscale properties, coordination number and associated percentage area, and macroscale properties, densities and strength of assemblies, were also studied (R2=0.85). The computational modeling of continuum-scale constitutive equations to improve biomass feedstock material handling and conveying systems was investigated. Existing design practices for common feedstock handling equipment such as hoppers and screw feeders have not been successful in many situations. The lack of an appropriate toolset to characterize and model biomass flow behavior is the root cause of plugging, stalls, and flow-related issues in biomass handling systems design & operations. New standardized characterization protocols, with appropriate constitutive models, will lead to successful biomass handling system design and operations. A study was started to investigate constitutive models for bulk solid flow based on the first principles to overcome issues in biomass handling. The focus was on 2 major issues in biomass handling and focused on analytical models of biomass hopper flow. Mohr-Coulomb, Drucker-Prager, and modified Cam-clay models were investigated as constitutive bulk solid flow models. Parameters of those models were determined using a set of triaxial tests. Triaxial tests were conducted using the cubical triaxial tester (CTT) in the Food and Biomaterials Lab at Penn State. Milled 1 mm corn stover and 2 mm wood chip biomass materials having different flow characteristics were examined, and their respective flow behavior out of a hopper were simulated using the finite element method implementing identified constitutive models and determined fundamental mechanical properties. It was found that, with the same hopper geometry, ground corn stover 1 mm tended to exhibit funnel flow whereas ground Douglas fir 2 mm tended to exhibit mass flow. These simulation results were validated with hopper flow experiments. This study demonstrated how biomass flow problems can be predicted and mitigated by numerically modeled fundamental constitutive equations. Study of mechanics of high-speed dynamic cutting using a novel device for energy crop stem samples was performed and results were processed for miscanthus bale compression. We initiated a new project, Hemp Harvesting Technologies. Large scale hemp production is facing the same logistical and equipment challenges with biomass harvesting and processing. The findings of this research will be widely applicable to the biomass area. We share critical info related to end-of-life options for used bioproducts with the users.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Gasteyer, Nathaniel, Hojae Yi, Virendra Puri, Carl Wassgren, and Marcial Gonzalez. 2019. The Calibration of DEM Input Parameters for Biomass Using a Cubical Triaxial Tester. Abstract Number 570548. 2019 AIChE Annual Meeting (Particle Technology Forum), November 10-15, 2019, Orlando, FL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Virendra M Puri, Christopher J. Lanning, James H Dooley. 2019. Determination of Fundamental Mechanical Properties and Modeling the Flow Behavior of Biomass Feedstocks using the Cubical Triaxial Tester. ASABE paper Number 1900929, ASABE Annual International Meeting, Boston, MA, July 7-10, 2019.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Elser, N and J. Michael. 2018. Personal Waste Management and the Quadruple Bottom Line: The Role of Institutional Purpose in Higher Education Sustainability. State of New York Sustainability Conference. Colgate U., Nov.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liu, J., A. Collins, J. Graybill, G. Roth. 2019. Industrial Hemp Planting, Harvesting and Decorticating  a review. ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 7  July 10, 2019. Boston Marriott Copley Place, Boston, MA, USA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liu, J. 2019. Field Performance Analysis of a Tractor and a Large Square Baler. Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference, July 16  July 19, Lac-Beauport, Qu�bec Canada
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2018. The agricultural and biological engineering department capstone experience. Presentation at the annual advisory board meeting of the Center of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology. October 25, 2018. Penn State, University Park, PA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Li, Yiming, Hojae Yi, Daniel Ciolkosz, and Virendra M. Puri. 2019. Measurement of Temperature and Pressure in the Biomass Pelletizing Process. ASABE paper Number 1901409, ASABE Annual International Meeting, Boston, MA, July 7-10, 2019.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liu, Ke. 2019. "Cellulose Nanocomposites Production through Co-Culture Fermentation." Pennsylvania State University. PhD Dissertation.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Monika Hospodiuk. 2019. Engineering neovascularized pancreas on a chip model. Pennsylvania State University. PhD Dissertation.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Anderson, Charles T., Yue Rui, Yintong Chen, Taylor Purzycki, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2019. Cell wall dynamics influence the formation, function, and aging of stomatal guard cells in Arabidopsis thaliana. American Society of Plant Biologists annual meeting to be held from August 3-7, 2019 in San Jose, CA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Xiaofeng Tang, Jeffrey M. Catchmark, Eduardo Mendieta and Thomas A. Litzinger. 2018. Creating Faculty Buy-in for Ethics-across-the-curriculum: Year One of Developing an Ethics Curriculum in an Undergraduate Biological Engineering Program. 2018 ASEE annual conference. June 24-27. 14 pages.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Kai Chi and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2019. Sustainable Development of Polysaccharide Polyelectrolyte Complexes as Eco-Friendly Barrier Materials for Packaging Applications. Chapter 8. Green Polymer Chemistry: New Products, Processes, and Applications ACS Symposium Series Vol. 1310: 109-123. DOI: 10.1021/bk-2018-1310.ch008.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Nathaniel C. Elser and Judd H. Michael (2018) A Strategic Orientation toward Entrepreneurship: Implications for Pallet Manufacturer Performance. Forest Products Journal, 68(4): 452-458.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liu, Ke and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2019. "Enhanced Mechanical Properties of Bacterial Cellulose Nanocomposites Produced by Co-Culturing Gluconacetobacter Hansenii and Escherichia Coli Under Static Conditions." Carbohydrate Polymers 219: 12-20.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Liu, Ke and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2019. "Bacterial cellulose/hyaluronic Acid Nanocomposites Production through Co-Culturing Gluconacetobacter Hansenii and Lactococcus Lactis in a Two-Vessel Circulating System." Bioresource Technology 290: 121715.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Weng, Yuanyuan, Brittney Nagle, Karl Mueller, and Jeffrey Catchmark. 2019. "The Formation of Gluconacetobacter Xylinum Cellulose Under the Influence of the Dye Brilliant Yellow." Cellulose: 1-14.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wenqing Yao, Yuanyuan Weng and Jeffery M. Catchmark. 2019. Improved analysis of cellulose X-Ray diffraction data using Fourier series modeling. Under revision for publication in Cellulose.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Ke Liu and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2019. Bacterial cellulose/hyaluronic acid nanocomposites production through co-culturing Gluconacetobacter hansenii and Lactococcus lactis under different initial pH values of fermentation media. Under revision for publication in Cellulose.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Rui, Yue, Yintong Chen, Hojae Yi, Taylor Purzycki, Virendra M. Puri, and Charles T. Anderson. 2019. Synergistic Pectin Degradation and Guard Cell Pressurization Underlie Stomatal Pore Formation. Plant Physiology, 180 (1):66-77; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1104/pp.19.00135.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Yintong Chen, James Z. Wang, Virendra M. Puri, and Charles T. Anderson. 2019. The stomatal flexoskeleton: How the biomechanics of guard cell walls animate an elastic pressure vessel. Journal of Experimental Botany, 70(14):35613572, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erz178.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2019. MicroCT Imaging to Determine Coordination Number and Contact Area of Biomass Particles in Densified Assemblies. Powder Technology, 354: 466-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.powtec.2019.06.002.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Mahdinia, E., Mamouri, S. J., Puri, V., Demirci, A., & Berenjian, A. 2019. Modeling of Vitamin K (Menaquinoe-7) fermentation by Bacillus subtilis natto in biofilm reactors. Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology, 17: 196-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcab.2018.11.022.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Karamchandani, A., H. Yi, and V. M. Puri. 2019. Micromechanical characterization of particle-particle bond in biomass assemblies formed at different applied pressure and temperature. KONA Powder and Particle Journal, 36: 252-263. doi: 10.14356/kona. 2019010.

Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

Outputs
Target Audience:Several target audiences continue to be engaged that included students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Additionally, audiences were reached via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentation and working meetings and the public through emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Segments of agricultural and food industry that were reached through these efforts included: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, (6) automotive composites manufacturers, (7) agricultural fiber producers, (8) sports fans visiting professional sports venues, higher education administration, and state and federal regulators, and (9) manufacturers of bio-based foodservice items and the intermediaries that utilize those products. In addition, academics (in agriculture, chemistry, food, feed, and fiber, materials science including those working in lignocellulosic materials), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Eleven graduate students actively participated in the project through their theses/dissertation research and participation and presentations in conferences. In addition, four post-doctoral researchers, and three undergraduates participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-doctoral researchers are being trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Technology transfer: This is a major activity at this time and one way of disseminating of results to particular companies. Conferences and journal publications: Information has been disseminated through presentation at international, national, and regional conferences and journal publications as detailed in a separate section. Undergraduate students: Students are being or will continue to be exposed to research results obtained through courses. These courses include BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density and time-dependent responses such as stress relaxation measurements. Department events and tours: Results are being or will continue to be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and student parents and through our departments' two industry advisory boards, i.e. Agricultural and Biological Engineering and BioRenewable Systems. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to work toward improving further our understanding of the pelletizing of bio-feedstock materials commonly found in the Northeast U.S. Towards that end, we are in the process of instrumenting a die for real-time measurement of pressure and temperature during pelleting.Measurement of biomass mechanical properties for flow from hopper bins and for use in screw conveying including the development of a computational model for biomass handling will be a focus. In addition, continue working with stakeholders that desire to use bio-products, and with packaging producers. Efforts will focus on developing commercializing technology to remove plastic and other unsustainable chemicals from entering our environment. Toward that end, we will continue basic research on advanced materials development involving polysaccharides. Additionally, efforts will involve the development of biomedical materials to improve healthcare. Work on ethics, ethical organizational management and ethics education will continue to be pursued. Graduate students will write their thesis. In addition, post-doctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students will participate in and present their work in conferences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During biomass pelletization, the presence of activated natural binders is thought to promote the formation of solid bridges in a biomass assembly. To examine this hypothesis, bonded particles were extracted from the switchgrass compacts formed at different pressure and temperature. This study investigated the influence of these two factors on the resistance to dislocation of the particle-particle bond. The generated force-bond dislocation curves were used to calculate the slope from no load to failure from the assemblies formed at the treatments A (60 MPa and 75 degree C), B (100 MPa at 75 degree C), C (60 MPa and 90 degree C), and D (100 MPa at 90 degree C). Assemblies from the treatment B had the highest diametral tensile strength (60.9 +/- 7.1 kPa) and densities (653.2 kg per cu. m), whereas, assemblies formed from the treatment C had the lowest diametral strength (7.2 +/- 1.4 kPa). The resistance to dislocation of particle-particle bonds at microscale was linearly correlated to the strength (R2=0.838) and density (R2=0.981) of the densified assemblies. High pressures are documented to form stronger compacts. However, the presence of sufficient moisture at low temperature can significantly improve the densified assembly properties by lowering the glass transition temperature of lignin to form stronger bonds. A critical review on engineering mechanical quality of green compacts using powder properties was published. The review highlighted the recent developments and gaps in engineering mechanical quality of powder compacts in conjunction with the characterization of particle systems and compaction at multiple scales. A study was initiated on biomass property characterization at elevated pressures and temperatures suitable for use in screw conveying for integrated biorefineries. The data from the x-ray computed tomography continue to be analyzed to better understand and explain the minimum particle-particle scale biomass coordination number needed for the onset of forming a stable assembly. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of biomass materials measured in this project and those that have been published by other researchers are being examined and compared including data gaps for a critical review research publication. In addition, (1) assisted National Institutes of Standards and Technology in writing standards for bio-based product measurement; (2) consulted with other universities (e.g., U of Virginia and Indiana University) to assist them in meeting zero waste goals; (3) assisted Department of Defense installation to reduce waste and costs; (4) a manufacturing process for an optimized polysaccharide-based foam for wound care and tissue engineering was developed; additionally, commercialization of the foam as a product in clothing, luggage and construction applications was completed; (5) commercialization of an optimized compostable and edible polysaccharide-based barrier coating for food and other packaging, food engineering and other applications continues to be pursued; (6) examination and development a new 3D printing bio-ink that may offer improved mechanical and cell/tissue growth properties continues to be a major focus; (7) co-culturing of microorganisms to produce improved bacterial cellulose composites for biomedical and other applications is also being pursued; (8) successful production of biocomposites made from switchgrass and miscanthus, biochars, talc, and polypropylene in an injection moulding process; the work is near completion; (9) a major step-forward was integrating ethics education into the biological engineering curriculum.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chiles, Robert M., Leland Glenna, Amit Sharma, Jeffrey Catchmark, C. Daniel Azzara, and Audrey Maretzki. 2018. Agri-food firms, universities, and corporate social responsibility: Whats in the public interest? Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems: 1-11.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Liu, Ke, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2018. Effects of exopolysaccharides from escherichia coli ATCC 35860 on the mechanical properties of bacterial cellulose nanocomposites. Cellulose 25 (4): 2273-87.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Chi, Kai, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2018. Improved eco-friendly barrier materials based on crystalline nanocellulose/chitosan/carboxymethyl cellulose polyelectrolyte complexes. Food Hydrocolloids 80: 195-205.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Risser, Gregory, Brittany Banik, Justin Brown and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. Structural Properties of Starch-Chitosan-Gelatin Foams and the Impact of Gelatin on MC3T3 Mouse Osteoblast Cell Viability. Journal of Biological Engineering 11(1):43.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Anuranjan Pandeya, Apoorva Karamchandani, and Virendra M. Puri. 2018. Critical Review on Engineering Mechanical Quality of Green Compacts using Powder Properties. KONA Powder and Particle Journal 35: 32-48.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2018. Comparison of Mechanical Properties of Ground Corn Stover, Switchgrass, and Willow and their Pellet Qualities. Particulate Science and Technology, An International Journal, 36(4): 447-456.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Covelli, Curtis R., Hojae Yi, Apoorva Karamchandani, Daniel Ciolkosz, Virendra M. Puri. 2018. Evaluation of Dry Steam Preconditioning on Switchgrass Pellet Quality Metrics. Applied Engineering in Agriculture, 34(4): 637-644.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Rui, Yue, Yintong Chen, Baris Kandemir, Hojae Yi, James Z. Wang, Virendra M. Puri, Charles T. Anderson. 2018. Balancing strength and flexibility: how the synthesis, organization, and modification of guard cell walls govern stomatal development and dynamics. Frontiers in Plant Science, Plant Cell Biology, Review Article, volume 9, article 1202, pp 11. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2018.01202.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Virendra Puri, Christopher Lanning, James Dooley. 2018. Computational modeling of continuum scale constitutive equations to improve biomass feedstock materials handling and conveying systems. ASABE Paper Number 1800867. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hofstetter, Daniel, Harvey Manbeck, Dennis Murphy, Virendra Puri, Eileen Fabian. 2018. Comparing transient CFD simulated versus measured hydrogen sulfide gas concentrations during barn and manure pit-safety ventilation in a commercial swine nursery room. ASABE Paper Number 1801632. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Elser, N.C. and J. Michael. 2018. ⿿A Strategic Orientation Toward Entrepreneurship: Implications for Pallet Manufacturer Performance⿝. Forest Products Journal, Vol 68, 7/8, p. 408-415.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sebastian Redcay, Anil Koirala, Jude Liu. 2018. Effects of roll and flail conditioning systems on mowing and baling of Miscanthus giganteus feedstock. Biosystems Engineering, 172(2018) 134-143.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Rui, Yue, Chaowen Xiao, Hojae Yi, Baris Kandemir, James Z. Wang, Virendra M. Puri, and Charles T. Anderson. 2017. POLYGALACTURONASE INVOLVED IN EXPANSION3 Functions in Tissue Expansion and Stomatal Dynamics in Arabidopsis thaliana. The Plant Cell, 29 (10) 2413-2432.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hofstetter, Daniel, Harvey Manbeck, Dennis Murphy, Virendra Puri, Eileen Fabian. 2018. Evaluating hydrogen sulfide gas contamination of tunnel ventilated barn airspace during manure pit safety ventilation using CFD. ASABE Paper Number 1801633. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hofstetter, Daniel, Virendra Puri, Harvey Manbeck, Dennis Murphy, Eileen Fabian. 2018. Dimensionless scaling method for extending CFD simulation results for mechanically ventilated animal housing located above manure pits. ASABE Paper Number 1801627. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Anderson, Charles T., Yue Rui, Yintong Chen, Hojae Yi, Baris Kandemir, James Z. Wang, and Virendra M. Puri. 2018. Separate and inflate: how cell wall dynamics influence the development and function of stomatal guard cells in Arabidopsis thaliana. 2018 Midwest Plant Cell Biology meeting, May 29-June 1, 2018, Madison, WI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jeffrey M. Cathcmark, Xiaofeng Tang, Thomas Litzinger and Eduardo Mendieta. 2018. Integration of ethics in the biological engineering curriculum. ASABE international conference. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jeffrey M. Cathcmark. 2018. Polysaccharide composites as barrier materials. ASABE international conference. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2018. Cobo Center, Detroit, MI.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Gregory Fasick and Jude Liu. 2018. Miscanthus Mechanical Conditioning. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, Cobo Center, Detroit, MI. July 29 - August 1, 2018.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva. 2018. Microscale mechanical characterization for macroscale quality assessment of densified biomass assemblies. Ph.D. Dissertation. Pp 183. The Pennsylvania State University, May 2018.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Kane, Tyler, Jeffrey Catchmark, and Schreyer Honors College. 2018. Bacterial cellulose chewing gum: Extended xylitol release. B.S. Honors Thesis. The Pennsylvania State University. May 2018.
• Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mao J, Abushammala H, Brown N, Laborie M-P: Comparative Assessment of Methods for producing Cellulose I Nanocrystals from cellulosic sources. . In: Nanocelluloses: Their Preparation, Properties, and Applications ACS Symposium Series (Agarwal et al.) American Chemical Society, 2017.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Jude Liu. 2018. Mechanical Properties of Miscanthus and Switchgrass. Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference (NABEC). Morgantown, WV, July 15-18, 2018.

Progress 10/01/16 to 09/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:Several target audiences continue to be engaged that include students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Additionally, audiences were reached via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentation and working meetings and the public through emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Segments of agricultural and food industry that were or are in the planning of stages of being reached through these efforts include: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, and (6) packaging producers and users, ranging from large paper producers to sports venues seeking to achieve zero waste. In addition, participating industry partners (foundries, lignin suppliers, rice hull ash suppliers, collagen suppliers, silicon suppliers), academics (chemists, materials scientists that attended conferences), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section.Several target audiences continue to be engaged that include students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Additionally, audiences were reached via journal article publication and presentations, companies through presentation and working meetings and the public through emails, press releases, calls and video conference interactions. Segments of agricultural and food industry that were or are in the planning of stages of being reached through these efforts include: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, (5) transportation and biomass handling industries, and (6) packaging producers and users, ranging from large paper producers to sports venues seeking to achieve zero waste. In addition, participating industry partners (foundries, lignin suppliers, rice hull ash suppliers, collagen suppliers, silicon suppliers), academics (chemists, materials scientists that attended conferences), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Ten graduate students actively participated in the project through their theses/dissertation research. In addition, three post-doctoral researchers, one visiting faculty scholar, and three undergraduates participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-doctoral researchers are being trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Technology transfer: This is a major activity at this time and one way of disseminating of results to particular companies. Conferences and journal publications: Information has been disseminated through presentation at international, national, and regional conferences and journal publications as detailed in a separate section. Undergraduate students: Students are bring or will continue to be exposed to research results obtained through courses. These courses include BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density and time-dependent responses such as stress relaxation measurements. Department events and tours: Results are bring or will continue to be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and student parents and through our departments' industry advisory boards. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to work toward improving further our understanding of the microscale mechanics of pelletizing of bio-feedstock materials commonly found in the Northeast U.S. Towards that end, we will build on the two bonded particle results to better understand the role of coordination number to form a strong and durable pellet. For this, we have begun to use a microscale computerized tomography (CT) x-ray scanner. The goal is to use the fundamental knowledge gained from single particle, two-particle assemblies, and coordination number for developing multiscale predictive semi-empirical framework between ground bio-feedstock's fundamental particle scale properties and pellet quality metrics.In addition, continue working with sports venues that desire to use bio-products, and with packaging producers. Efforts will focus on developing novel materials and measurement methods and time- and cost-efficient processes that increasingly make use of our renewable biological and biobased feedstock that are of paramount importance. Toward that end, we will continue basic research on advanced materials development involving polysaccharides including technology commercialization to remove plastic and other unsustainable chemicals from entering our environment. A related effort will involve the development of biomedical materials to improve healthcare.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The utilization of dry steam as a low energy preprocessing step in the pelletization of switchgrass was evaluated in this work. Ground switchgrass was moisture conditioned at 16% and 18% wet basis (w.b.) and then subjected to 100°C and 120°C steam treatment cycles in an autoclave before being formed into pellets. Similarly, pellets were formed from switchgrass moisture conditioned at 16% and 18% without steam treatment. Determined metrics included particle density, particle size distribution, pellet density, diametral and axial strengths, and durability using both tumbling box and friabilator. In comparison of treatment groups, little evidence for density increase was found for both particle and pellet density. However, density of pellets formed were found to be similar to particle density of the material, indicating a very high degree of compaction. An increase in pellet diametral strength was observed for the 120°C dry steam conditioning 0.5-1 MPa higher than the diametral strengths of the non-steamed control. Axial strength of single pellets for control and dry steam conditioned materials were not significantly different (p>0.05). Pellet durability analysis resulted in an average friability of 93.8% for control and all treatments. The more aggressive box durability test indicates that dry steam conditioned pellets had a 7-10% lower durability compared to pellets formed using unconditioned switchgrass. Overall, the steam processing seemed to cause higher variability among pellet quality metrics and effects were marginal. In addition, particle-particle bond strength characterization was done using the adapted micro-electro mechanical systems (MEMS) device reported previously. However, FTIR results for bond characterization were not promising. Particle-particle bond strength data are being analyzed and a manuscript is under preparation for submission to a top-tier research journal. Furthermore, relationships between energy consumption and bulk density when compressing energy crops were developed. In addition, (1) an optimized compostable and edible polysaccharide based barrier coating was demonstrated for food and other packaging, food engineering and other applications. (2) An optimized polysaccharide based foam was produced for wound care and tissue engineering. The foam can also be used as a product in clothing, luggage and construction applications. (3) A process for making increased length crystalline nanocellulose was developed. (4) A method for making mechanically improved bacterial cellulose was developed involving co-culture of two microorganisms and a novel bioreactor design. (5) A new 3D printing bio-ink was developed and demonstrated (preliminarily) that may offer improved mechanical and cell/tissue growth properties. (6) An experiment was conducted involving the impact of a cellulose-binding dye on the formation of bacterial cellulose that supports a model for cellulose assembly in nature, potentially resolving one unanswered question regarding how the crystalline cellulose microfibril forms in nature. (7) Native wood species treated with hemicelluloses were characterized in order to better understand the thermal role of hemicelluloses in wood cell wall relaxations. (8) New bio-based food packaging products were tested with consumers, and in the Penn State compost facility.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ruan, Changshun, Yongjun Zhu, Xin Zhou, Noureddine Abidi, Yang Hu, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2016. Effect of cellulose crystallinity on bacterial cellulose assembly. Cellulose 23 (6): 3417-3427.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Zamil, Shafayet M., Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2017. A multiscale FEA framework to bridge subcellular to tissue scale mechanical properties of plant cell wall material: The contributions of middle lamella interface and cell shape. Journal of Materials Science, 52: 7947-7968.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Xiao, Chaowen, William J. Barnes, M. Shafayet Zamil, Hojae Yi, Virendra M. Puri, Charles T. Anderson. 2017. Activation tagging of Arabidopsis POLYGALACTURONASE INVOLVED IN EXPANSION 2 promotes hypocotyl elongation, leaf expansion, stem lignification and mechanical stiffness. The Plant Journal, 89: 1159-1173.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Yi, Hojae, Anuranjan Pandeya, Apoorva Karamchandani, and Virendra M. Puri. 2017. Critical Review on Engineering Mechanical Quality of Green Compacts using Powder Properties. KONA Powder and Particle Journal Published online on April 8, 2017; DOI: 10.14356/kona.2018006.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2017. Comparison of Mechanical Properties of Ground Corn Stover, Switchgrass, and Willow and their Pellet Qualities. Particulate Science and Technology, An International Journal, Posted online on July 20, 2017, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02726351.2017.1355860.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Catchmark, Jeffrey M. and Kai Chi. 2017. Sustainable barrier materials based on polysaccharides in polyelectrolyte complexation. ACS National Meeting, Washington, DC. Green Polymer Chemistry: Biobased Materials & Biocatalysis Polysaccharide-based Materials. August 22, 2017.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Redcay, Sebastian and Jude Liu. 2017. Miscanthus Mechanical Conditioning and its Effect on Bale Density. Northeast Agricultural and Biological Engineering Conference (NABEC). Hilton Garden Inn, Groton, CT, July 30- August 2.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Brown, Nicole R., S. Basu, O. Omadjela, C.T. Anderson, J.M. Catchmark, J. Zimmer. Polymerization of cellulose and lignin on a chip: morphological studies. 253rd Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Paper CELL 466. Thursday, April 6, 2017. San Francisco.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Mechanical characterization of single and bonded particles and minimum particle coordination number to form quality biomass pellets. Research Penn State 2016, University Park, PA. October 5-6, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Comparison of Mechanical Properties of Ground Corn stover, Switchgrass, and Willow and their Pellet Qualities. Second International Conference on Powder, Granule, and Bulk Solids: Innovations and Applications, Jaipur, India. December 1-3, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kandemir, Baris, Yue Rui, Hojae Yi, Virendra M. Puri, Charles T. Anderson, and James Z. Wang. 2017. Active Contours Approach in Geometric Modeling and Analysis of Guard Cell Walls in the Stomata of Arabidopsis Thaliana. Annual Graduate Exhibition, Penn State University, University Park, PA. March 24-26, 2017.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chi, Kai. 2017. Modification of crystalline nanocellulose for improved sustainable biocomposites. Ph.D. Dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, August 2017.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chi, Kai and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. Enhanced dispersion and interface compatibilization of crystalline nanocellulose in polylactide by surfactant adsorption. Cellulose. Online URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-017-1479-3.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chi, Kai and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. The influences of added polysaccharides on the properties of bacterial crystalline nanocellulose. Nanoscale. Nanoscale 9:15144-15158.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Chi, Kai and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. Crystalline nanocellulose/lauric arginate complexes. Carbohydrate Polymers 175:320-329.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Henning, Alyssa L., and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. The impact of antibiotics on bacterial cellulose in vivo. Cellulose 24 (3): 1261-1285.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Basu, Snehasish, Adam Plucinski, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. Sustainable barrier materials based on polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complexes. 19 (17): 480-492.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Akhavan, Alireza, Jeffrey Catchmark, and Farshad Rajabipour. 2017. Ductility enhancement of autoclaved cellulose fiber reinforced cement boards manufactured using a laboratory method simulating the hatschek process. Construction and Building Materials 135 : 251-259.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Basu, Snehasish, Okako Omadjela, Jochen Zimmer, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2017. Impact of plant matrix polysaccharides on cellulose produced by surface-tethered cellulose synthases. Carbohydrate Polymers 162 : 93-99.

Progress 07/01/16 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Several target audiences continue to be engaged that include students, colleagues, the public and companies through resident education, department activities, conferences, center activities, symposia and one-on-one interactions with industry. Segments of agricultural and food industry that are planned to be contacted or were reached through these efforts include: (1) biomass and biofuels, (2) machinery industry, (3) crop and soil industry, (4) grain industry, and (7) transportation and biomass handling industries. In addition, participating industry partners (foundries, lignin suppliers, rice hull ash suppliers, collagen suppliers, silicon suppliers), academics (chemists, materials scientists that attended conferences), students (project was discussed in undergraduate and graduate courses at Penn State and in a Department Seminar) were reached. Further information related to undergraduate instruction, conferences, and consortia etc. are given in the Accomplishments section. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Several graduate students actively participated in the project through their thesis/dissertation research. In addition, post-doctoral researchers participated in and contributed significantly to the project goal and objectives. These top-notch students and post-doctoral researchers are being trained to be the future leaders in academia and industry in the important field of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Technology transfer: This is a major activity at this time and one way of disseminating of results to particular companies. Conferences and journal publications: Information has been disseminated through presentation at international, national, and regional conferences and journal publications as detailed in a separate section. Undergraduate students: Students are or will be exposed to research results obtained through courses such as BE 303 course (Structural Systems in Agriculture) where the discussion is on sustainable materials and BE 304 (Engineering Properties of Food and Biological Materials) through hand-on labs using the methodology for void space/particle density measurements. Department events and tours: Results are or will be disseminated through several tours and department events for visitors including the public and student parents and through our departments' industry advisory board. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Continue to work toward improving further our understanding of the microscale mechanics of pelletizing of bio-feedstock materials commonly found in the Northeast U.S. Towards that end, further fine tune the methodology for harvesting and testing two bonded particles to answer the question, what is the minimum particle-particle strength and associated coordination number to form a strong and durable pellet. In addition, focus on the coordination number for producing stable assemblies. For this we will be using a microscale CT x-ray scanner. Use the fundamental knowledge gained from single particle, two-particle assemblies, and coordination number for developing multiscale predictive relationships between ground bio-feedstock's fundamental particle scale properties and pellet quality metrics.Efforts will be focused on developing novel materials and measurement methods and time- and cost-efficient processes that increasingly make use of our renewable biological and biobased feedstock that are of paramount importance.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Willow is a light-weight and uniform-grained hardwood, which is a promising bioenergy crop. In this study, physical and mechanical properties of ground willow and quality of willow pellets were determined and compared with already published properties of more commonly used bioenergy crop, i.e., switchgrass. Rational explanations were provided for why certain mechanical properties were correlated well with pellet qualities. To that end, willow was ground with two different screen sizes (3.175 mm and 6.350 mm) and conditioned at two moisture contents (17.5% and 20.0% w.b). The physical and mechanical properties of ground willow and pellet qualities were determined. Ground willow and switchgrass exhibited similar trends of mechanical properties, however, the magnitudes were different. For ground willow, compression index correlated well with strength of willow pellets, however, bulk modulus and spring-back index showed high correlations in case of switchgrass. This could be an attribute of different physical properties, i.e., particles size distribution, bulk density, and particle density, and chemical compositions. Higher levels of lignin present in willow than switchgrass might produce significant effect of resistance to compressibility. Ground willow underwent plastic deformation, which resulted in a high correlation to compression index. Ground switchgrass was dominated by elastic responses thus highly correlated to bulk modulus and spring-back index. Co-culturing Glucanoacetobacter xylinus and a strain of E. Coli which produces a polysaccharide colonic acid was used to produce a new cultured biocomposite. In addition, improved cellulose nanocrystals derived from microbial cellulose cultured with polysaccharide additives were produced and changes in their structure were and continue to be examined further. Also, studies related to (1) novel surfactant systems for simplified dewatering, (2) use of cellulose binding dyes to control the crystal structure of microbial cellulose, and (3) sustainable barrier compositions focusing on optimization of an edible, compostable barrier composition based on polysaccharide polyelectrolyte complexes were carried out and are ongoing.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Hu, Yang, Yongjun Zhu, Xin Zhou, Changshun Ruan, Haobo Pan, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2016. Bioabsorbable cellulose composites prepared by an improved mineral-binding process for bone defect repair. Journal of Materials Chemistry b 4 (7): 1235-46.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Dayal, Manmeet Singh, and Jeffrey M. Catchmark. 2016. Mechanical and structural property analysis of bacterial cellulose composites. Carbohydrate Polymers 144 : 447-53.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Wang, Xinmiao, Virendra M. Puri, Ali Demirci, and Robert E. Graves. 2016. One-step Cleaning-In-Place for milking systems and mathematical modeling for deposit removal from stainless steel pipeline using blended electrolyzed oxidizing water. Transactions of the ASABE (Accepted on September 1, 2016).
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Wang, Xinmiao, Ali Demirci, Robert E. Graves, and Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Electrolyzed Oxidizing Water as Novel Alternative Chemical for CIP Process for the Food Industry. Conference of Food Engineering, Columbus, Ohio. September 12-14, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Karamchandani, Apoorva, Hojae Yi, and Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Mechanical characterization of single and bonded particles and minimum particle coordination number to form quality biomass pellets. Research Penn State 2016, University Park, PA. October 5-6, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Covelli, Curtis R., Apoorva Karamchandani, Hojae Yi, Daniel E. Ciolkosz, Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Evaluation of Thermal Preconditioning on Switchgrass Mechanical Properties and Correlation to Pellet Quality. ASABE Paper Number 2459815. ASABE Annual International Meeting, Orlando, FL, July 17-20, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Manbeck, Harvey, Daniel Hofstetter, Dennis Murphy, and Virendra M. Puri. 2016. Online Tool for Evaluating Effectiveness of Manure Pit Ventilation to Reduce Entry Risk. ASABE Paper Number 2461671. ASABE Annual International Meeting, Orlando, FL, July 17-20, 2016.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Basu, S., O. Omadjela, D. Gaddes, S. Tadigadapa, J. Zimmer, and JM Catchmark. 2016. Cellulose microfibril formation by surface-tethered cellulose synthase enzymes. Acs Nano 10 (2): 1896-907.