Source: SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
ADVANCING THE NATIONAL BIOECONOMY THROUGH REGIONAL SUN GRANT CENTERS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1020433
Grant No.
2019-38502-30120
Cumulative Award Amt.
$2,787,840.00
Proposal No.
2019-04900
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2019
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2024
Grant Year
2019
Program Code
[SGP]- Sun Grant Program
Recipient Organization
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
PO BOX 2275A
BROOKINGS,SD 57007
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
In early 2000, leaders in the land grant university community began discussing the need to strengthen efforts to harness the land grant research and extension system to build a bioeconomy based on renewable fuels, products, and power. One of the key outcomes of this effort would be the revitalization of rural economies through job creation and industry growth based on the products of rural America. One approach to realize this goal was to structure the land grant universities into five biogeographical regions, each with a leading university Center. This organization made it possible to address the vision of the national bioeconomy while recognizing regional differences and then strategically targeting each region's potential. Ultimately, this vision evolved into the Sun Grant Initiative, and five universities stepped forward to serve as regional Sun Grant Centers, providing leadership for this new initiative. Since its inception, the Sun Grant Initiative has worked closely with federal agencies, national laboratories, research and education communities, and the private sector to support the development of alternative transportation fuels (ground and air), bioproducts, and renewable infrastructure materials to support growth of the bioeconomy. Since 2002 and with support from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Transportation, the Sun Grant Initiative has managed and implemented more than 330 research and education projects with collaborating scientists in more than 90% of the states and funding of over $100 million.
Animal Health Component
45%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
45%
Applied
45%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
1020199106040%
1230699106040%
6056199301020%
Knowledge Area
102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics; 123 - Management and Sustainability of Forest Resources;

Subject Of Investigation
6199 - Economy, general/other; 0199 - Soil and land, general; 0699 - Trees, forests, and forest products, general;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems); 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The primary goal of the Sun Grant Program (SGP) is to address national energy needs and establish a national bioeconomy through coordinated regional research, education, and Extension activities focused on agriculture and forest-based bio-based fuels (transportation and jet), bio-products (chemicals and materials), and bio-power. This goal will be addressed through the following specific objectives:Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regionsContribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centersUtilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs
Project Methods
The funds provided through USDA/NIFA will be equally divided among the five Sun Grant regions. As specified in the Farm Bill authorization, and in the RFA, of the funds received by each of the five Sun Grant Centers, 75% will be distributed through the regional competitive grant program, 4% will be used to administer the regional competitive grants program, and 21% will be used to develop bioenergy research leadership and programs at the Sun Grant Centers.Each of the Sun Grant Centers will implement a distinct regional competitive grants program, addressing national bioenergy priorities in a manner that is best adapted to their respective regional conditions. Each region has held stakeholder workshops in the past and utilizes an advisory committee, which provides guidance for best addressing national priorities in the region's context. Each Sun Grant Center will develop a regional solicitation, ensure that there is wide dissemination of this bioenergy research funding opportunity through the academic community, conduct a rigorous peer-review selection process, oversee the grants that are awarded, and report and disseminate the research findings that result. While the regional competitive grants programs are purposefully developed to be distinct, the five programs will coordinate through the SGA as described above. Through regular meetings and teleconferences, the Sun Grant Centers will closely collaborate in the development and implementation of their competitive grant programs. Some activities will be developed collectively, or one institution will take the lead on behalf of the others, such as providing a commonplatform for grant management through an online service at Oregon State University (Webnibus) and management of the nationals SGA website at the University of Tennessee.As specified within the RFA, funds will be set aside within the Western Regional SGP for a regional competitive grant program to provide funding for the Western Region Subcenter. Specifically, 4% of 10% of the funds available for the Western Region regional competitive grant program will be set aside for the Subcenter.

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience: University researchers (faculty, postdocs, and students), agricultural producers, extension personnel, commodity groups, industry personnel, and additional bioenergy, bioproducts, and bio-economy stakeholders. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the pace at which each region was able to administer the competitive and internal regional competitions. Consequently, this caused a delay in reviewing and issuing the awards and affected the rate of expenditure, particularly for the competitive award category. The Regional Center directors have been coordinating efforts to complete the selections and awards whenever possible. At the time of this writing, NIFA funds have been allocated and the projects are slated to be completed prior to the main award end date. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The SGP involves undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates at multiple aspects of the enterprise. The internal and competitive projects involve students to complete the research, extension, and outreach tasks. The training of students and post-doctoral researchers is critical for workforce development. The SGP to date has involved 81 graduate students, 35 undergraduate students, and 10 postdoctoral scholars to participate and contribute to the regional competitive and internal projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All Regional Center personnel remain in contact with stakeholders in the bioeconomy sector as the awards are being announced. Outreach activities based on the competitive and internal projects will be disseminated as they are made available through reports, peer reviewed publications, and conference presentations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions. (90% Accomplished) Leaders from each Regional Center meet monthly via Zoom to discuss the status of the competitive grants program. Proposals were reviewed for scientific merit by technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. The titles and PIs of each funded competitive project to date are listed below: Southeastern Region Development of crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) based flexible piezoelectric materials for energy harvest; PI: Z.Y.Cheng (Auburn Univ.) Lignin Based Polyester Vitrimers; PI: A. Ragauskas (Univ. of Tennessee) Understanding the potential of biomass sorghum and switchgrass, their variability and effect on pulp quality to obtain high-end/sustainable fibers for the hygiene tissue industry; PI: R. Gonzalez (North Carolina State Univ.) Molecular recognition as a method to sustainably separate a high-value lignin from white oak sawdust; PI: S. Nokes (Univ. of Kentucky) Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into battery anode materials; PI: H. Hauang (Virginia Tech) Lignin based quantum dot composites for biomedical applications; PI: D. Harper (Univ. of Tennessee) South Central Region The mechanism of cellulase enzyme mimicking catalysts; PI: A. Amarasekara (Prairie View A&M Univ.) Intercropping winter leguminous cover crops for sustainable energy cane production; PI: F. Dou (Texas A&M Univ.) Potential for using sweetgum plantations as a biofuel feedstock in the south-central region: Productivity, economics, and land-owner willingness; PI: O. Joshi (Oklahoma State Univ.) Native perennial bunchgrasses and forbs for bioenergy; PI: J. Muir (Texas A&M AgriLife Research) Development of affordable, biodegradable, durable disposable containers for food service utilizing biomass and biorefinery byproducts; PI: Z. Sun (Kansas State Univ.) Advanced manufacturing of lignin-based 3D printed wearable triboelectric nanogenerators for personal health monitoring; PI: Y. Zheng (Kansas State Univ.) North Central Region Synthesis of novel biomass-derived plastics using photoenergy; PI: Q. Chu (Univ. of North Dakota) Production of 3D graphene and biofuel from renewable lignin through flash catalytic thermochemical processes; PI: Z. Gu (South Dakota State Univ.) Nutrient balancing for valorizing biofuel byproducts; PI: G. Vemuri (Sasya LLC) Biomass-derived cellulose-based triboelectric devices for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing; PI: Y.C Wang (Univ. of Illinois) Developing a novel, molten salt torrefaction process to enable solar- or waste-heat driven torrefaction; PI: A. Gladen (North Dakota State Univ.) Genetic engineering of E. coli to produce high-value chemicals using raw beet juice as a sole carbon source; PI: R. Zhou (South Dakota State Univ.) Western Region Design an integrated comminution and flash hydrothermal biomass pretreatment (CFHP) system; PI: B. Yang (Washington State Univ.) Selective carbonization: A technology critical for the creation of a green carbon economy; PI: M.G. Perez (Washington State Univ.) Toward production of lignin-based bioplastics and biocomposites; PI: A. McDonald (Univ. of Idaho) Hemp fibers for cellulosic materials preparation and application; PI: M. Whiting (Washington State Univ.) Biojet fuel production from pinyon juniper and reed grass; PI: F.A. Agblevor (Utah State Univ.) Optimizing the fermentative production of medium chain carbolic acids from food and beverage waste streams using machine learning techniques; PI: H. Liu (Oregon State Univ.) Nanobubble technology for enhanced microalgal biomass production for aquatic feed application; PI: S.K. Khanal (Univ. of Hawaii) Abundant plant protein for fabrication of bio-air filters capable of simultaneously capturing particulate and gaseous pollutants; PI: Zhong (Washington State Univ.) Objective 2: Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual research centers. (90% accomplished) Like the competitive grants program shown in Objective 1, Center leaders discussed and implemented timeline for conducting internal grant programs at each center institution. Below is a summary of the internal projects to date. Southeastern Region Biodegradable plastics production from byproducts of bioenergy process through chemical catalysis with CO2; PI: S. Cui Design bioderived furanic circular polymers for next-generation; PI: M. Li Frontiers in biorefining: Chemicals and materials from renewable carbon; PI: N. Labbé South Central Region Initial Assessment on the Scale of the Circular Bioeconomy in Tennessee; PI E. Yu North Central Region Bioprocessing of canola meal to produce value-added products for various applications; PI: B. Karki Develop smart biochar-based controlled release nitrogen fertilizers for sustainable corn production; PI: L. Wei Investigating green and renewable polymers to combat drought; PI: T. Letcher Extraction and delivery of bioactive compounds from fruit waste pomace using milk proteins; PI: M. Mohan Lignin Nanofibers: Sustainable Plant-Based Solution for Performance Enhancement of Asphalt Used for Highway Construction; PI R. Ghabchi Advanced processing of renewable polymers for combating drought; PI: Messerli Western Region Developmental regulators as tools for in planta transformation; PIs: S. Strauss and C. Hart Forestry residue field processing: A technoeconomic analysis; PI: C. Hagen Development of machine learning models for life cycle assessment of biorefineries ahead of detailed design; PI: F. Long Chemical kinetic and thermodynamic modeling of biomass gasification for enhanced techno-economic analysis: PI: B. Cook New cultivars of red seaweed for bioenergy and bioproduct feedstocks; PI: H. Alzanbaki Northeastern Region The NE Region has focused their internal efforts to techno-economic assessments (TEA) of projects and are conducting webinars and are currently pursue a regional competition based on the outcomes of the TEA. Objective 3: Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants program. (80% accomplished) Directors meet monthly via video conference to determine plans for dissemination of competitive and internal project outcomes. Regional Centers share documentation of the Sun Grant activities a through a cloud-based shared file system.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Joshi, O. and A. Lenning. 2024. Landowner degree of social acceptance and obstacles in adoption of hybrid sweetgum plantations in the south-central United States. Oklahoma division, Ouachita Society of American Foresters annual meeting, Idabel, Oklahoma, April 11-12, 2024
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Lewis, J., R. Will, and O. Joshi. Productivity and economic viability of hybrid sweetgum in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. Division, Ouachita Society of American Foresters annual meeting, Idabel, Oklahoma, April 11-12, 2024
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Logan, O., L. Zhai., and B. Murray. Climate impacts on southern woody biofuel species. Ouachita Society of American Foresters annual meeting, Idabel, Oklahoma, April 11-12, 2024
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: N.T. Dunford, Sourabh Chakraborty and Nazlim Aktay. Shape stabilization of phase change materials in biomass-based carbon for energy storage applications. EUBCE 2024, European Biomass Conference & Exhibition, 24-27 June 2024, Marseille, France.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Dunford, N.T. and M.S. Celiktas. Evaluation of Animal Fats and Plant Waxes as Potential Phase Change Materials for Energy Storage. Euro Fed Lipid Congress. Poznan, Poland. September 17-20, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Austin Wilcox Lloyd, Tanumoy Bera, Fugen Dou, Yubin Yang, Paul White, Patrick W. Inglett, Hamid Araji, Sanai Li and Lloyd. T Wilson. Growth potential: Evaluating the viability and effect of a leguminous cover crop in energycane production. Annual Meeting of ASA-CSSA-SSSA. St. Louis, MO. October 29  November 1, 2023
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Ozment, L., B. Murray., R. Will, O. Joshi, and L. Zhai. Responses to climate change of four woody biofuel species from the southeastern U.S.A. Biomass and Bioenergy.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Barretto, R., Qi, G., Xiao, R, Jones, C., Sun, X. S., Li, Y., Griffin, J., & Wang, D. (2024). Development of hemp-protein adhesives for plywood applications. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting, Anaheim, California, U.S.A., July 28-31, 2024.
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Long, F., Fan, J., Xu, W., & Liu, H. 2022. Predicting the performance of medium-chain carboxylic acid (MCCA) production using machine learning algorithms and microbial community data. Journal of Cleaner Production, 377, 134223.
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Long, F., Fan, J., & Liu, H. 2023. Prediction and Optimization of Medium-chain Carboxylic Acids Production from Food Waste using Machine Learning Models. Bioresource Technology, 128533.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Gyawali, M., Thunuguntla, R., R. S. Tanner, H. K. Atiyeh, "Temperature-Dependent Synthesis of Butanol and Hexanol from C1 Gases by Clostridium muellerianum P21 for Use in Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production", 2nd Annual CEAT Graduate Research Symposium, Stillwater, OK, USA, April 20, 2024.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Muir, J.P., J.L. Foster, J.R. Bow, L. Entio, D. Murray. 2023. Hot mess: biodiverse native subtropical grassland seed mixtures. Americas Grasslands conference: Reconnecting Americas Grasslands. Proc. VI Biennial Conference on the Conservation of Americas Grasslands. P 16.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Shadrock, C.A., J.P. Muir, J.L. Foster, S. Weiss & D. Murray. 2024. Texas native bunchgrasses for forage and bioenergy: preliminary results. 77th Southern Pasture and Forage Crop Improvement Conference (SPFCIC) joint meeting with the American Forage and Grassland Council (AFGC). Mobile, AL January 7-10.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Lenning, A., O. Joshi, and R.E. Will. 2024. Perceived obstacles in land use change for hybrid sweetgum plantations: landowner opinions from the south-central United States. Journal of Forestry. 122(3):215-222.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Lenning, A., O. Joshi, and R.E. Will. 2024. Exploring social acceptance of hybrid sweetgum plantations in the south-central United States. Trees, Forests, and People. 17:100619.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: S.N Lin, X. Fu, M. Luo, C.X. Wang, W.H. Zhong, Interface-tailored Forces Fluffing Protein Fiber Membranes for High-performance Filtration. Separation and Purification Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2021.11957, Vol. 278: 119570, 2021.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: S.N. Lin, X.W. Fu, M. Luo and W.H. Zhong, Tailoring Bimodal Protein Fabrics for Enhanced Air Filtration Performance. Separation and Purification Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/ j.seppur.2022.120913, 290: 120913, 2022.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: S.N. Lin, X.W. Fu, M. Luo and W.H. Zhong, A Protein Aerogel with Distinctive Filtration Capabilities for Formaldehyde and Particulate Pollutants. Separation and Purification Technology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2023.123179, 310, 2023.8.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Hao Ruan, Zhangyang Xu, Adarsh Kumar, Maoqi Feng, Andrew Lipton, Eric Walter, Rafal Gieleciak, Hari Paudel, Yuhua Duan, Bin Yang, Elucidating the Reaction Pathways of Veratrylglycero-?-guaiacyl Ether Degradation Over Metal-Free Solid Acid Catalysts with Hydrogen, ChemSusChem, 2022, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202202001
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Y. Li, D. Xia, Q. Jin, L. Tao, F. Lin, H. Huang. 2024. Hydrothermally Assisted Conversion of Switchgrass into Carbon Materials as High-Performance Anodes for Sodium-Ion Batteries. ACS Applied Material and Interface.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Roselle Barretto, Guangyan Qi, Christopher Jones, Yonghui Li, Xiuzhi Susan Sun, Donghai Wang. 2024. Bio-based disposable containers for food services. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Volume 2024, Article ID 5536535, https://doi.org/10.1155/2024/5536535.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: N.T. Dunford, F.M. Alptekin and M.S. Celiktas. Conversion of food waste to energy storage materials. Rethink food resources, losses, and waste, 2023. Athens, Greece, September 27-29, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Wang, R., Jin, Z., Du, H., Chen, J., Li, L., Wang, Y.-C., Pan, X. Whole-biomass aerogel-based triboelectric nanogenerator for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. 2023 AIChE Meeting, Orlando, FL, November, 2023
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cidreira, A. and Wei, L. Enhancing Nitrogen Use Efficiency in Urea Fertilizers Through Biochar-Based Controlled Release Technology. 2024 ASABE North Central Regional Section Meeting, April 11th, 2024, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Cidreira, A. and Wei, L. Enhancing Nitrogen Release Control in Biochar-Based Controlled Release Nitrogen Fertilizers, ASABE Annual Meeting, July 27  31, 2024, Anaheim, California.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Shrestha, M. and Wei, L., Advanced Security in IoT Greenhouse Monitoring: Soil and Environmental Analytics with AES and TLS. 2024 ASABE North Central Regional Section Meeting, April 11th, 2024, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD - 57007.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Shrestha, M. and Wei, L., Advanced Security in IoT Greenhouse Monitoring: Soil and Environmental Analytics with AES and TLS. 2024 ASABE North Central Regional Section Meeting, April 11th, 2024, South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD - 57007
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Shrestha, M. and Wei, L., Integrate IoT and renewable energy in a crop monitoring system for sustainable smart precision agriculture. ASABE Annual Meeting, July 27  31, 2024, Anaheim, California.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Rubel, R., Wei, L., Cidreira, A., Aldekhail, A., Anderson, G. Production Interference on Microorganism Conservation in Biofertilizer Production from Biowastes. ASABE Annual Meeting, July 27  31, 2024, Anaheim, California.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2024 Citation: Chu, Q.R. Lighting the Way to Greener Chemistry: Cyclobutane-Containing Plastics Synthesized Using Photoenergy Department of Chemistry and Materials Science & Engineering Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO (Nov. 18, 2024).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Tangmi, D. and Chu, Q.R. Green Synthesis of (S)-5-Hydroxymethyl-2(5H)-furanone from a Furfural Feedstock The Annual Meeting of the North Dakota Academy of Science, Grand Forks, ND (Mar. 16, 2024).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Rubel, R.I., Wei, L., Alanazi, S., Aldekhail, A., Cidreira, A., Yang, X., Wasti, S., Bhagia, S., Zhao, X. 2024. Biochar-compost-based controlled-release nitrogen fertilizer intended for an active microbial community. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. DOI: 10.15302/J-FASE-2024571.
  • Type: Other Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Shrestha, M. and Wei, L., 2024. Review: perspectives on the roles of real time sensing and IoT integration in smart agriculture. J. Electrochem. Soc. 171 027526. DOI https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/ad22d8.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Rubel, R., Wei, L., Priya, N., Wu, Y. Effects of varied biochar application rates with organic sources on soil microbial dynamics, nutrient availability, and yield potential of maize. ASABE Annual Meeting, July 27  31, 2024, Anaheim, California.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Li, L., Wang, R., Jin, Z., Du, H., Chen, J., Pan, X., Wang, Y.-C. Effects of morphological structure on the output of cellulose II aerogel-based triboelectric nanogenerators. 2024 ACS Spring Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Chen, J., Du, H., Wang, R., Jin, Z., Li, L., Wang, Y.-C., Pan, X. Lignocellulosic materials-based triboelectric nanogenerators for harvesting mechanical energy. International Conference of Nanogenerators and Piezotronics, Madison, WI, May 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Jin, Z., Chen, J., Wang, R., Li, L., Fu,Y., Pan, X., Wang, Y.-C. Use of chemically functionalized cellulose II aerogels to fabricate high performance triboelectric nanogenerators for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. International Conference of anogenerators and Piezotronics, Madison, WI, May 2024
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Jin, Z., Zhao, F., Li, L., Wang, Y.-C. Tribo-sanitizer: A portable and self-powered UV device for enhancing food safety. Nano energy, 2023, 108675.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Liang, Y., Schaffer, T., Sobhan, A., Biesecker, M., Yang, Z., Han, C., Hu, J., Smirnova, A., Gu, Z. 2023, 3D Cu Pyramid Array Grown on Planar Cu Foil for Stable and DendriteFree Lithium Deposition, Materials Science, 29 (4) DOI: https://doi.org/10.5755/j02.ms.34077
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2025 Citation: Robertson, J. E. M. and Chu, Q. R. Quantification of Molecular Rigidity via the Introduction of Rigidity Factor. Nature, to be submitted.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2025 Citation: Shahni, R. K., Wang, Z. D., Krupinsky, B, Robertson J., and Chu, Q. R. A Cyclobutane-1,3-Diamine Building Block Prepared by a Slurry Topochemical hotocyclization for Polymeric Materials with Enhanced Properties To be submitted.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2025 Citation: Mathias, N. A., Krupinsky, B. M., and Chu, Q. R. The Rise, Fall, and Future of Biobased Succinic Acid: A Perspective on Challenges and Opportunities in Biobased Chemical Production ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. (Perspectives); To be submitted.
  • Type: Other Status: Other Year Published: 2025 Citation: Krupinsky, B., Shahni, R. K., Roman, M., Wang, Z., Rios Diaz A., and Chu, Q. R. Brine as a Green and Economical Medium for Slurry Photoreactions * ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng. Submitted.
  • Type: Other Status: Under Review Year Published: 2024 Citation: Nkemngong, D., Ugrinov, A. and Chu Q.R. A Cyclobutane Carboxylic Dianhydride (CBDAN-2) as a Building Block for Metal-Organic and Polymeric Materials, New J. Chem. Under review.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Xia, D., Kamphaus, E.P., Hu, A., Hwang, S., Tao, L., Sainio, S., Nordlund, D., Fu, Y., Huang, H., Cheng, L. and Lin, F., 2023. Design Criteria of Dilute Ether Electrolytes toward Reversible and Fast Intercalation Chemistry of Graphite Anode in Li-Ion Batteries. ACS Energy Letters, 8(3), pp.1379-1389.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: D. Xia, H. Jeong, D. Hou, L. Tao, T. Li, K. Knight, A. Hu, E. Kamphaus, D. Nordlund, S. Sainio, Y. Liu, J. Morris, W. Xu, H. Huang, L. Li, C. Xiong, L. Cheng, F. Lin. Self-terminating, Heterogeneous Solid-Electrolyte Interphase Enables Reversible Li-Ether Co-Intercalation in Graphite Anodes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(5), p.e2313096121
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: D. Xia, K. Rosenberg, Y. Li, A. Hu, C. Sun, L. Li, D. Nordlund, S. Sainio, H. Huang, Feng Lin. 2024. Rechargeable Manganese Dioxide||Hard Carbon Lithium Batteries in an Ether Electrolyte. Journal of The Electrochemical Society. 171 030528
  • Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: K Zhang, T Elder, Z-Y Cheng, K Zhan, Y Peng, M Li*. (2024) Cellulose Nanofiber-Templated Metal-Organic Frameworks for Fluorescent Detection of Methyl Parathion Pesticides. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering.
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2024 Citation: SMQ Bokhari, JN Sevening, J Catchmark, SC Chmely. Tailoring Mechanical Properties for Additive Manufacturing: Strategic Molecular Design of UV-Curable Bio-based Oligoester Resins via Diacid and Diol Exploration. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2024. Pre-print DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-skzbn-v2
  • Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2024 Citation: Christoph, E.; Yu, L.; Newby, S.D.; Rivera Orsini, M.A.; Scroggins, J.; Keffer, D.J.; Harper, D.P.; Dhar, M. Novel Kraft Softwood Lignin-Derived Carbon Quantum Dots: Synthesis, Characterization, and In Vitro Cytocompatibility. Nanomaterials 2024, 14, 1029. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano14121029
  • Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Human mesenchymal stem cells display a distinct pattern of extracellular matrix protein in response to ligninderived carbon quantum dots" (Research Article, No. adhm.202400121) to Advanced Healthcare Materials.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Anjam Sadik and B.C. Lynn, Continuous Frontal Analysis to Study Lignan-Cyclodextrin Interaction, 49th Naff Symposium on Chemistry and Molecular Biology, March 28, 2024, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Y. Li, F. Lin, H. Huang, Hydrothermally Assisted Carbonization of Switchgrass to Produce Hard Carbon for Sodium-Ion Battery ApplicationsTechno-economic Analysis. 2024 Virginia Tech Department of Food Science Annual Student Research Symposium, April, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Anjam Sadik and B.C. Lynn, Toward the recovery of value-added lignans from biomass, 1st Gordon Research Symposium on Lignin, July 13-14, 2024, Stonehill College, Easton, MA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Y. Li, F. Lin, H. Huang. Hydrothermally Assisted Carbonization of Switchgrass to Produce Hard Carbon for Sodium-Ion Battery ApplicationsTechno-economic Analysis, Oral Presentation. 2024 Annual ASABE Meeting, July, Anaheim, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Y. Li, L. Tao, F. Lin, H. Huang. Hard Carbon Production from Enzymatically Fractionated Switchgrass for Lithium-Ion Batteries. Poster Presentation, 2024 Annual ASABE Meeting, July, Anaheim, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: . Li, F. Lin, H. Huang, Hydrothermally Assisted Carbonization of Switchgrass to Produce Hard Carbon for Sodium-Ion Battery ApplicationsTechno-economic Analysis, Oral Presentation, 2024 Annual ASABE Meeting, July, Anaheim, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Z.-Y. Cheng, Functional Dielectrics and Materials (Invited). ISE19 (Sept. 24-29, Linz, Austria)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2024 Citation: Jindong Wei, Z.-Y. Cheng, Zhihua Jiang, Ananya Ghost, Multifunctional polymer-nanocellulose composites for energy harvest. ISE19 (Sept. 24-29, Liz, Austria)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2023 Citation: SMQ Bokhari, J. Catchmark, S.C Chmely. Tailoring Bio-based Polyester UV-curable Resins with Tunable Mechanical Properties suitable for SLA 3D Printing Applications. Penn State Materials Day, Oct 26-27. Winner: First prize, Biomaterials and Medical Devices category.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: R. Barretto, G. Qi, C. Jones, X.S. Sun, D. Wang. 2023. Mechanical and Water Soaking Properties of Switchgrass Composites with Soy Flour Adhesives. American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers Annual International Meeting, July 9-12, 2023, Omaha, United State. Paper No. 2300581.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Lloyd, AW., F. Dou, T. Bera, LT. Wilson, P.W. Inglett, P. White, Y. Yang, and H. Araji. Effect of winter cover crop on energycane production. ASA, CSSA, SSSA International Annual Meeting, St. Louis, MO. November 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Lewis, J.D., O. Joshi., B. Murray., L. Zhai., and R. Will. 2023. Productivity and economic viability of hybrid sweetgum in Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana. Society of American Foresters annual conference, Sacramento, California, October 25-28, 2023
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2023 Citation: Ozment, L., L. Zhai., B. Murray., J.D. Lewis., R. Will., and O. Joshi. 2023. Interactive Effects of Genotype and Environment on the Productivity of Hybrid Sweetgum in Biofuel Plantations. Society of American Foresters annual conference, Sacramento, California, October 25-28, 2023.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Thunuguntla, R., H.K. Atiyeh, M. S. Chinn and R. S. Tanner, Unlocking the Potential of Biological CO2 Conversion to Ethanol by Clostridium ragsdalei P11 in Batch and Continuous Operations, ASABE 2024 Annual International Meeting, Anaheim, CA, July 28-31, 2024.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2024 Citation: Gyawali, M., Thunuguntla, R. and H. K. Atiyeh, "Effect of Temperature on C4 and C6 alcohol Production by Clostridium muellerianum P21", Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center 2024 Food Science Research Symposium, Stillwater, OK, USA, April 11, 2024.


Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Researchers, producers, extension personnel, commodity groups, industry personnel, and additional bioenergy, bioproducts, and bio-economy stakeholders. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the pace at which each region was able to administer the competitive and internal regional competitions. Consequently, this caused a delay in reviewing and issuing the awards and affected the rate of expenditures, particularly for the competitive award category in prior years. The Regional Center directors have been coordinating efforts to complete the selections and awards whenever possible What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The SGP involves undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates at multiple aspects of the enterprise. The internal and competitive projects involve students to complete the research, extension, and outreach tasks. The training of students and post-doctoral researchers is critical for workforce development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All Regional Center personnel remain in contact with stakeholders in the bioeconomy sector as the awards are being announced. Outreach activities based on the competitive and internal projects will be disseminated as they are made available through reports, peer reviewed publications, and conference presentation. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions Based on funding availability and timelines, the Regional Centers will develop additional solicitations for the competitive grants program. Notifications of these releases will be broadly disseminated in order to attract quality proposals from diverse groups and individuals. Proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. COVID-19 has affected the timing of the release of regional RFAs. Objective 2. Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. Internal solicitations will also be released and projects selected. Objective 3. Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Both Regional RFAs and internal solicitations will encourage project awardees to provide evidence of how project results and knowledge will be disseminated.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major Goals of the Project The primary goal of the Sun Grant Program (SGP) is to address national energy needs and establish a national bioeconomy through coordinated regional research, education, and Extension activities focused on agriculture and forest-based bio-based fuels (transportation and jet), bio-products (chemicals and materials), and bio-power. This goal is addressed through the following specific objectives: *Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions. *Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. *Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Objective 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions. (80% Accomplished) Leaders from each Regional Center meet monthly via Zoom to discuss status of the competitive grants program. Proposals were reviewed for scientific merit by technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. The titles and PIs of each funded competitive project to date are listed below: Southeastern Region Development of crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) based flexible piezoelectric materials for energy harvest; PI: Z.Y.Cheng (Auburn Univ.) Lignin Based Polyester Vitrimers; PI: A. Ragauskas (Univ. of Tennessee) Understanding the potential of biomass sorghum and switchgrass, their variability and effect on pulp quality to obtain high-end/sustainable fibers for the hygiene tissue industry; PI: R. Gonzalez (North Carolina State Univ.) Molecular recognition as a method to sustainably separate a high-value lignin from white oak sawdust; PI: S. Nokes (Univ. of Kentucky) Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into battery anode materials; PI: H. Hauang (Virginia Tech) Lignin based quantum dot composites for biomedical applications; PI: D. Harper (Univ. of Tennessee) South Central Region The mechanism of cellulase enzyme mimicking catalysts; PI: A. Amarasekara (Prairie View A&M Univ.) Intercropping winter leguminous cover crops for sustainable energy cane production; PI: F. Dou (Texas A&M Univ.) Potential for using sweetgum plantations as a biofuel feedstock in the south-central region: Productivity, economics, and land-owner willingness; PI: O. Joshi (Oklahoma State Univ.) Native perennial bunchgrasses and forbs for bioenergy; PI: J. Muir (Texas A&M AgriLife Research) Development of affordable, biodegradable, durable disposable containers for food service utilizing biomass and biorefinery byproducts; PI: Z. Sun (Kansas State Univ.) Advanced manufacturing of lignin-based 3D printed wearable triboelectric nanogenerators for personal health monitoring; PI: Y. Zheng (Kansas State Univ.) North Central Region Synthesis of novel biomass-derived plastics using photoenergy; PI: Q. Chu (Univ. of North Dakota) Production of 3D graphene and biofuel from renewable lignin through flash catalytic thermochemical processes; PI: Z. Gu (South Dakota State Univ.) Nutrient balancing for valorizing biofuel byproducts; PI: G. Vemuri (Sasya LLC) Biomass-derived cellulose-based triboelectric devices for energy harvesting and self- powered sensing; PI: Y.C Wang (Univ. of Illinois) Developing a novel, molten salt torrefaction process to enable solar- or waste-heat driven torrefaction; PI: A. Gladen (North Dakota State Univ.) Genetic engineering of E. coli to produce high-value chemicals using raw beet juice as a sole carbon source; PI: R. Zhou (South Dakota State Univ.) Western Region Design an integrated comminution and flash hydrothermal biomass pretreatment (CFHP) system; PI: B. Yang (Washington State Univ.) Selective carbonization: A technology critical for the creation of a green carbon economy; PI: M.G. Perez (Washington State Univ.) Toward production of lignin-based bioplastics and biocomposites; PI: A. McDonald (Univ. of Idaho) Hemp fibers for cellulosic materials preparation and application; PI: M. Whiting (Washington State Univ.) Biojet fuel production from pinyon juniper and reed grass; PI: F.A. Agblevor (Utah State Univ.) Optimizing the fermentative production of medium chain carbolic acids from food and beverage waste streams using machine learning techniques; PI: H. Liu (Oregon State Univ.) Nanobubble technology for enhanced microalgal biomass production for aquatic feed application; PI: S.K. Khanal (Univ. of Hawaii) Abundant plant protein for fabrication of bio-air filters capable of simultaneously capturing particulate and gaseous pollutants; PI: Zhong (Washington State Univ.) Objective 2: Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual research centers. (80% accomplished) Similar to the competitive grants program shown in Objective 1, Center leaders discussed and are implementing timeline for conducting internal grant programs at each center institution. Below is a summary of the internal projects to date. Southeastern Region Biodegradable plastics production from byproducts of bioenergy process through chemical catalysis with CO2; PI: S. Cui Design bioderived furanic circular polymers for next-generation; PI: M. Li Frontiers in biorefining: Chemicals and materials from renewable carbon; PI: N. Labbé South Central Region Initial Assessment on the Scale of the Circular Bioeconomy in Tennesse; PI E. Yu North Central Region Bioprocessing of canola meal to produce value-added products for various applications; PI: B. Karki Develop smart biochar-based controlled release nitrogen fertilizers for sustainable corn production; PI: L. Wei Investigating green and renewable polymers to combat drought; PI: T. Letcher Extraction and delivery of bioactive compounds from fruit waste pomace using milk proteins; PI: M. Mohan Lignin Nanofibers: Sustainable Plant-Based Solution for Performance Enhancement of Asphalt Used for Highway Construction; PI R. Ghabchi Advanced processing of renewable polymers for combating drought; PI: Messerli Western Region Developmental regulators as tools for in planta transformation; PIs: S. Strauss and C. Hart Forestry residue field processing: A technoeconomic analysis; PI: C. Hagen Development of machine learning models for life cycle assessment of biorefineries ahead of detailed design; PI: F. Long Chemical kinetic and thermodynamic modeling of biomass gasification for enhanced techno-economic analysis: PI: B. Cook New cultivars of red seaweed for bioenergy and bioproduct feedstocks; PI: H. Alzanbaki Northeastern Region The NE Region has focused their internal efforts to techno-economic assessments (TEA) of projects and are conducting webinars, and are currently pursue a regional competition based on the outcomes of the TEA. Objective 3: Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants program. (70% accomplished) The Regional directors met in person on Penn State campus on August 29, 2023 to determine plans for dissemination of competitive and internal project outcomes. This is being coordinated by the leadership team by posting on our regional websites that are hosted at our respective institutions and through the primary Sun Grant website. Documentation of the Sun Grant projects and substantial activities are being shared with the Regional centers through a cloud-based shared file system that is hosted at SDSU. Information is being updated as it becomes available.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2023 Citation: Long, F., Fan, J., & Liu, H. 2023. Prediction and Optimization of Medium-chain Carboxylic Acids Production from Food Waste using Machine Learning Models. Bioresource Technology, 128533."
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hao Ruan, Zhangyang Xu, Adarsh Kumar, Maoqi Feng, Andrew Lipton, Eric Walter, Rafal Gieleciak, Hari Paudel, Yuhua Duan, Bin Yang*, Elucidating the Reaction Pathways of Veratrylglycero-β-guaiacyl Ether Degradation Over Metal-Free Solid Acid Catalysts with Hydrogen, ChemSusChem, 2022, DOI: 10.1002/cssc.202202001.
  • Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: B. Yang, D. Lanning, and J. Dooley, Integrated Comminution and Flash Hydrothermal Biomass Pretreatment System U.S. application 63/479,239, 01/10/2023


Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience: Researchers, producers, extension personnel, commodity groups, industry personnel, and additional bioenergy, bioproducts, and bio-economy stakeholders. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the pace at which each region was able to administer the competitive and internal regional competitions. Consequently, this caused a delay in reviewing and issuing the awards and affected the rate of expenditures, particularly for the competitive award category. The Regional Center directors have been coordinating efforts to expedite the selections and awards whenever possible and anticipate making all competitive awards by early 2023. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The SGP involves undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates at multiple aspects of the enterprise. The internal and competitive projects involve students to complete the research, extension, and outreach tasks. The training of students and post-doctoral researchers is critical for workforce development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All Regional Center personnel remain in contact with stakeholders in the bioeconomy sector as the awards are being announced. Outreach activities based on the competitive and internal projects will be disseminated as they are made available. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions Based on funding availability and timelines, the Regional Centers will develop additional solicitations for the competitive grants program. Notifications of these releases will be broadly disseminated in order to attract quality proposals from diverse groups and individuals. Proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. Covid-19 has affected the timing of the release of regional RFAs. Goal 2. Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. Internal solicitations will also be released and projects selected. Goal 3. Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Both Regional RFAs and internal solicitations will encourage project awardees to provide evidence of how project results and knowledge will be disseminated.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions. (80% Accomplished) Leaders from each Regional Center meet monthly via Zoom to discuss status of the competitive grants program. The Southeastern and South Central Regions have completed their competitive grants program in late 2020 and early 2021. The North Central Region has administered their regional competitive grants in summer 2021. The Western Region has reviewed and awarded their competitive grants in spring 2022. The four regions that have conducted their competitive grants program had received 20-40 proposals per region. Proposals were reviewed for scientific merit by technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. The Northeastern region is in the process of conducting their competitive grants program. The titles and PIs of each funded competitive project are listed below: Southeastern Region Development of crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) based flexible piezoelectric materials for energy harvest; PI: Z.Y.Cheng (Auburn Univ.) Lignin Based Polyester Vitrimers; PI: A. Ragauskas (Univ. of Tennessee) Understanding the potential of biomass sorghum and switchgrass, their variability and effect on pulp quality to obtain high-end/sustainable fibers for the hygiene tissue industry; PI: R. Gonzalez (North Carolina State Univ.) Molecular recognition as a method to sustainably separate a high-value lignin from white oak sawdust; PI: S. Nokes (Univ. of Kentucky) Conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into battery anode materials; PI: H. Hauang (Virginia Tech) Lignin based quantum dot composites for biomedical applications; PI: D. Harper (Univ. of Tennessee) South Central Region The mechanism of cellulase enzyme mimicking catalysts; PI: A. Amarasekara (Prairie View A&M Univ.) Intercropping winter leguminous cover crops for sustainable energy cane production; PI: F. Dou (Texas A&M Univ.) Potential for using sweetgum plantations as a biofuel feedstock in the south-central region: Productivity, economics, and land-owner willingness; PI: O. Joshi (Oklahoma State Univ.) Native perennial bunchgrasses and forbs for bioenergy; PI: J. Muir (Texas A&M AgriLife Research) Development of affordable, biodegradable, durable disposable containers for food service utilizing biomass and biorefinery byproducts; PI: Z. Sun (Kansas State Univ.) Advanced manufacturing of lignin-based 3D printed wearable triboelectric nanogenerators for personal health monitoring; PI: Y. Zheng (Kansas State Univ.) North Central Region Synthesis of novel biomass-derived plastics using photoenergy; PI: Q. Chu (Univ. of North Dakota) Production of 3D graphene and biofuel from renewable lignin through flash catalytic thermochemical processes; PI: Z. Gu (South Dakota State Univ.) Nutrient balancing for valorizing biofuel byproducts; PI: G. Vemuri (Sasya LLC) Biomass-derived cellulose-based triboelectric devices for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing; PI: Y.C Wang (Univ. of Illinois) Developing a novel, molten salt torrefaction process to enable solar- or waste-heat driven torrefaction; PI: A. Gladen (North Dakota State Univ.) Genetic engineering of E. coli to produce high-value chemicals using raw beet juice as a sole carbon source; PI: R. Zhou (South Dakota State Univ.) Western Region Design an integrated comminution and flash hydrothermal biomass pretreatment (CFHP) system; PI: B. Yang (Washington State Univ.) Selective carbonization: A technology critical for the creation of a green carbon economy; PI: M.G. Perez (Washington State Univ.) Toward production of lignin-based bioplastics and biocomposites; PI: A. McDonald (Univ. of Idaho) Hemp fibers for cellulosic materials preparation and application; PI: M. Whiting (Washington State Univ.) Biojet fuel production from pinyon juniper and reed grass; PI: F.A. Agblevor (Utah State Univ.) Optimizing the fermentative production of medium chain carbolic acids from food and beverage waste streams using machine learning techniques; PI: H. Liu (Oregon State Univ.) Nanobubble technology for enhanced microalgal biomass production for aquatic feed application; PI: S.K. Khanal (Univ. of Hawaii) Abundant plant protein for fabrication of bio-air filters capable of simultaneously capturing particulate and gaseous pollutants; PI: Zhong (Washington State Univ.) Objective 2: Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual research centers. (70% accomplished) Similar to the competitive grants program shown in Objective 1, Center leaders discussed and are implementing timeline for conducting internal grant programs at each center institution. Below is a summary of the internal projects to date recommended by the respective Regional Center and authorized by the Lead Center. Southeastern Region Biodegradable plastics production from byproducts of bioenergy process through chemical catalysis with CO2; PI: S. Cui Design bioderived furanic circular polymers for next-generation; PI: Mi Li Frontiers in biorefining: Chemicals and materials from renewable carbon; PI: N. Labbé South Central Region Development of Clostridium carboxidivorans as a platform for butanol production via co-fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass; PI: H. Atiyeh The South-Central Region has solicited and received proposals for the 2022 internal grant. One project (see below) has been selected to receive the 2022 internal award. Biomass based composite materials for solar energy storage; PI: N. Dunford North Central Region Bioprocessing of canola meal to produce value-added products for various applications; PI: B. Karki Develop smart biochar-based controlled release nitrogen fertilizers for sustainable corn production; PI: L. Wei Investigating green and renewable polymers to combat drought; PIs: T. Letcher and M. Messerli Metabolic engineering of E. coli to produce high-value chemicals using raw beet juice; PI: R. Zhou Develop biochar composite control release nitrogen fertilizer for sustainable corn production; PI: L. Wei Western Region Developmental regulators as tools for in planta transformation; PIs: S. Strauss and C. Hart Forestry residue field processing: A technoeconomic analysis; PI: C. Hagen Development of machine learning models for life cycle assessment of biorefineries ahead of detailed design; PIs: F. Long and H. Liu Chemical kinetic and thermodynamic modeling of biomass gasification for enhanced techno-economic analysis: PIs: B. Cook and C. Hagen New cultivars of red seaweed for bioenergy and bioproduct feedstocks; PIs: H. Alzanbaki and G. Rorrer Northeastern Region The NE Region has focused their internal efforts to techno-economic assessments (TEA) of projects and are conducting webinars, and are currently pursue a regional competition based on the outcomes of the TEA. Objective 3: Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants program. (30% accomplished) The Regional Sun Grant directors met in person on the SDSU campus on August 29-30, 2022 to determine plans for promoting and disseminating the knowledge generated from the competitive and internal projects. This is being coordinated by the leadership team by posting on our regional websites that are hosted at our respective institutions and through the primary Sun Grant website. Documentation of the Sun Grant projects and activities are being shared with the Regional centers through a cloud-based shared file system (Box) that is hosted at SDSU. This information is being updated as it becomes available through the respective projects.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ghosh, A., Z. Cheng, Z. Jiang. Tune CNC alignment by combining the additions of electrolytes with shear-based alignment. AIChE 2022. Session: Chemical Modifications and Processing of Biomaterials. Abstract was submitted.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Najmi F., W. Sheng, and Z.-Y. Cheng. 2022. Analytical solution of heat exchange in typical electrocaloric devices. Journal of Heat Transfer. Vol. 144, 051901. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4053514
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ghosh, A., Z.-Y. Cheng, and Z. Jiang. 2021. Engineering functional materials from cellulose nanocrystals by exploring their structure and property relationships. AIChE 2021, Boston, MA. Oral presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Harper, D.P., Y. Lu, V. Garcia-Negron, D. Kizzire, D.J. Keffer. 2021. Enhancing nature's surfaces: Using informed computational models to improve the function and performance of biobased materials. Processing Technologies for the Forest Products and Biobased Products Industries. St. Simons Island, GA, November 2, 2021.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Battisto, E. 2022. Additive manufacturing of sustainable composite materials containing cellulose nanomaterials. Penn State University. Defense date: April 4, 2022, Graduation date: May 8, 2022
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Yu, L. 2022. Synthesis and application of lignin-based carbon materials with tunable structure from the mesoscale to nanoscale. University of Tennessee. Defense data: April 13, 2022, Graduation data: May 20, 2022.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Cen, Z., L. Wei, K. Muthukumarappan, A. Sobhan, R. McDaniel. 2021. Assessment of a biochar-based controlled release nitrogen fertilizer coated with polylactic acid. Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42729-021-00497-x.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Rubel, R., L. Wei. 2022. Development of a new biochar-based controlled release nitrogen fertilizer coated with biodegradable polylactic acid. Journal of Polymers and the Environment. (under review)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Das, B.K., R.I. Rubel, S. Gupta, Y. Wu, L. Wei, V.S. Brozel. 2022. Impacts of biochar-based controlled-release nitrogen fertilizers on soil prokapyotic and fungal communities. Applied Soil Ecology. (under review)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Wei, L., Y. Wu, Z. Cen, E. Arkon-Mensah, S. Gupta. 2021. Applications of different control release fertilizers in corn greenhouse trials, Paper #: 2100091. ASABE Annual International Meeting, online virtual conference on July 12-16.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rubel, R.I., L. Wei. 2021. Improve biochar-based control release fertilizers performance by coating multiple layers of polylactic acid, Paper #: 2100092. ASABE Annual International Meeting, online virtual conference on July 12-16.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Jin, Z., F. Zhao, Y. Lei, Y.C. Wang. 2022. Hydrogel-based triboelectric devices for energy-harvesting and wearable sensing applications. Nano Energy., 106988. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.106988
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Rahman, A., M. Andrianova, E. Clobes, A. Kozliak, A. Kub�tov�. 2021. Comprehensive characterization of lignin using thermal desorption-pyrolysis gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and electrospray high-resolution mass spectrometry. Annual conference of American Society for Mass Spectrometry. 2021. Philadelphia, PA (poster)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Jia, H., S. Lu, S.H. Shin, M.L. Sushko, X. Tao, M. Hummel, P. Thallapally, J. Liu, Z. Gu. 2022. In situ anodic electrodeposition of two-dimensional conductive metal-organic framework@nickel foam for high-performance flexible supercapacitor. J Power Sources (accepted) https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1ebvx1M7w0X86h
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Kub�tov�, A., M. Rahman, A. La Vallie, H. Bilek, E. Kozliak. Current approaches to subcritical water treatment of lignin. Online Encyclopedia of Polymers, Polymeric Materials, and Polymer Technology. (accepted)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wang, Z., H. Amjaour, J. Robertson, A. Ugrinov, and Q. R. Chu. 2022. A recyclable thermoset developed from cyclobutane-1,2- dicarboxylic acid. Chem. Commun., under revision.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Mabin, M., Q. Elliott, Z. Wang, and Q. R. Chu. 2022. A biorenewable cyclobutane-containing building block synthesized from sorbic acid using photoenergy. iScience. under revision.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Krupinsky, B., A.R. Diaz, H. Amjaour, and Q.R. Chu. 2022. Brine as a new green medium for slurry photoreactions. American Chemical Society (ACS) 2022 Spring National Meeting. San Diego, CA. (Mar. 2022, online presentation)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Robertson, J., and Q.R. Chu. 2022. Quantification of rigidity for small organic molecules. American Chemical Society (ACS) Central Regional Meeting (CERM). Ypsilanti, MI (Jun. 7, 2022, in person Presentation scheduled.)
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Tang, R., B.L. Xue, J.J. Tan, Y. Guan, J.L. Wen, X. Li, W. Zhao. 2021. Regulating lignin-based epoxy vitrimer performance by fine-tuning the lignin structure. ACS Applied Polymer Materials 2021.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2022 Citation: Xia, D., E. Kamphaus, L. Tao, S. Hwang, A. Hu, S. Sainio, D. Nordlund, H. Huang, L. Cheng, F. Lin. 2022. Tailoring solvation structures of dilute ether electrolytes enables reversible and fast intercalation chemistry of graphite anode in Li-ion batteries. Angewandte Chemie (submitted).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Li, Y., D. Xia, Q. Jin, L. Tao, H. Wang, F. Lin, H. Huang. 2022. Conversion of switchgrass into functional hard carbon materials as anodes for sodium-ion batteries. 2022 Annual Virginia Tech Department of Food Science Student Research Event. April, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Kheam, R., M. Li, T. Elder, and S. Wang. 2022. Totally chlorine-free peracetic acid pulping for nanocellulose isolation. ACS Spring 2022, March 2022. Oral presentation.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2022 Citation: Wei, J. and Z.-Y. Cheng. 2022. Improving energy storage performance of polymers using small molecules. IEEE FLEPS 2022, July 2022. Poster presentation.


Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audience: Researchers, producers, extension personnel, commodity groups, industry personnel, and additional bioenergy, bioproducts, and bio-economy stakeholders. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the pace at which each region was able to administer the competitive and internal regional competitions. Consequently, this caused a delay in reviewing and issuing the awards and affected the rate of expenditures, particularly for the competitive award category. The Regional Center directors have been coordinating efforts to expedite the selections and awards whenever possible and anticipate making all competitive awards by early 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The SGP involves undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates at multiple aspects of the enterprise. The internal and competitive projects involve students to complete the research, extension, and outreach tasks. The training of students and post-doctoral researchers is critical for workforce development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?All Regional Center personnel remain in contact with stakeholders in the bioeconomy sector as the awards are being announced. Outreach activities based on the competitive and internal projects will be disseminated as they are made available. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions Based on funding availability and timelines, the Regional Centers will develop additional solicitations for the competitive grants program. Notifications of these releases will be broadly disseminated in order to attract quality proposals from diverse groups and individuals. Proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. Covid-19 may affect the timing of the release of regional RFAs. Goal 2. Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. Internal solicitations will also be released and projects selected. Goal 3. Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Both Regional RFAs and internal solicitations will encourage project awardees to provide evidence of how project results and knowledge will be disseminated.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions. (75% Accomplished) The leaders from each Regional Sun Grant Center meet monthly via web conferences to discuss process and implementation of the competitive grants program. Based on the expected funding availability, funding deadlines, and logistical constraints due to the COVID pandemic, each regional center has moved forward with their solicitation, review, and awarding for their respective competitive grants program. At the time of this writing, the Southeastern and South Central Regions have completed their competitive grants program in late 2020 and early 2021. The North Central and Western Regions have reviewed and are in the process of awarding their competitive grants in the latter portion of 2021. The four regions that have conducted their competitive grants program were pleased with receiving over 20 proposals per region. Proposals were reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. The Northeastern region is in the process of conducting their competitive grants program. The titles and PIs of each funded competitive project are given below: Southeastern Region (Univ. of Tennessee) Title: Development of crystalline nanocellulose (CNC) based flexible piezoelectric materials for energy harvest PI: ZhongYang Cheng (Auburn Univ.) Title: Lignin Based Polyester Vitrimers PI: Arthur Ragauskas (Univ. of Tennessee) Title: Understanding the Potential of Biomass Sorghum and Switchgrass, Their Variability and Effect on Pulp Quality to Obtain High-end/sustainable Fibers for the Hygiene Tissue Industry PI: Ronald Gonzalez (North Carolina State Univ.) Title: Molecular Recognition as a Method to Sustainably Separate a High-Value Lignan from White Oak Sawdust PI: Sue Nokes (University of Kentucky) Title: Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass into Battery Anode Materials PI: Haibo Hauang (Virginia Tech) Title: Lignin Based Quantum Dot Composites for Biomedical Applications PI: David Harper (Univ. of Tennessee) South Central Region (Oklahoma State Univ.) Title: The Mechanism of Cellulase Enzyme Mimicking Catalysts PI: Ananda Amarasekara (Chemistry, Prairie View A&M Univ.) Title: Intercropping Winter Leguminous Cover Crops for Sustainable Energy Cane Production PI: Fugen Dou (Texas A&M Univ.) Title: Potential for Using Sweetgum Plantations as a Biofuel Feedstock in the South-Central Region: Productivity, Economics, and Land-Owner Willingness PI: Omkar Joshi (Oklahoma State Univ.) Title: Native Perennial Bunchgrasses and Forbs for Bioenergy PI: James Muir (Texas A&M AgriLife Research) Title: Development of Affordable, Biodegradable, Durable Disposable Containers for Food Service Utilizing Biomass and Biorefinery Products PI: Xiuzhi Susan Sun (Kansas State Univ.) Title: Advanced Manufacturing of Lignin-based 3D printed Wearable Triboelectric Nanogenerators for Personal Health Monitoring PI: Yi Zheng (Kansas State Univ.) North Central Regional Sun Grant Center (South Dakota State University) Title: Synthesis of Novel Biomass-derived Plastics Using Photoenergy PI: Qianli Rick Chu (Univ. of North Dakota) Title: Production of 3D Graphene and Biofuel from Renewable Lignin Through Flash Catalytic Thermochemical Processes PI: ZhengRong Gu (South Dakota State Univ.) Title: Nutrient Balancing for Valorizing Biofuel Byproducts PI: Goutham Vemuri (Sasya LLC) Title: Biomass-derived Cellulose-based Triboelectric Devices for Energy Harvesting and Self-powered Sensing PI: Yi-Cheng Wang (Univ. of Illinois) Title: Developing a Novel, Molten Salt Torrefaction Process to Enable Solar- or Waste-Heat Driven Torrefaction PI: Aaron Gladen (North Dakota State Univ.) Title: Genetic Engineering of E. Coli to Produce High-Value Chemicals using Raw Beet Juice as a Sole Carbon Source PI: Ruanbao Zhou (South Dakota State Univ.) Western Regional Sun Grant Center (Oregon State Univ. and Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa) Title: Hemp Fibers for Cellulosic Materials Preparation and Application PI: Matthew Whiting (Washington State Univ.) Title: Biojet Fuel Production from Pinyon Juniper and Reed Grass PI: Foster Ayi Agblevor (Utah State Univ.) Title: Optimizing the Fermentative Production of Medium Chain Carbolic Acids from Food and Beverage Waste Streams Using Machine Learning Techniques PI: Hong Liu (Oregon State Univ.) Title: Nanobubble Technology for Enhanced Microalgal Biomass Production for Aquatic Feed Application PI: Samir Kumar Khanal (Univ. of Hawaii) Title: Abundant Plant Protein for Fabrication of Bio-Air Filters Capable of Simultaneously Capturing Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants PI: Zhong (Washington State Univ.) Goal 2: Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual research centers. (60% accomplished) Leaders of the Regional Sun Grant Center decided to release internal solicitations during the last half of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. To date, the following projects and activities are being supported by the internal competitions. Similar to the competitive grants program shown in Objective 1, Center leaders discussed and are implementing timeline for conducting internal grant programs at each center institution. Based on that discussion, Centers either already initiated these solicitations in 2020 (South Central and North Central) or have selected a project from the Year 1 (FY19) funds (Southeastern). The Northeast and Western Regional Centers will run internal grant programs later in 2021. Below is a summary of the internal projects to date recommended by the respective Regional Center and authorized by the Lead Regional Center. Southeastern Region (University of Tennessee) Title: Frontiers in Biorefining: Chemicals and Materials from Renewable Carbon PI: Niki Labbé South Central Region (Oklahoma State Univ.) Title: Development of Clostridium carboxidivorans as a platform for butanol production via co-fermentation of lignocellulosic biomass PI: Hasan Atiyeh North Central Region (South Dakota State Univ.) Project Title: Metabolic Engineering of E. coli to Produce High-value Chemicals Using Raw Beet Juice PI: Ruanbao Zhou Title: Develop Biochar Composite Control Release Nitrogen Fertilizer for Sustainable Corn Production PI: Lin Wei Northeastern Region (Pennsylvania State Univ.) The NE Region has elected to focus their internal efforts to techno-economic assessments (TEA) of projects and are conducting webinars, and will pursue a regional competition based on the outcomes of the TEA later this year. Western Region (Oregon State University and the University of Hawaii at Manoa) The Western Center has engaged in an RFP process for the competitive grants portion of the SGA award. They are completing the process to award two years of funding for each of the competitive awards and two years of funding for the Center Initiatives. As we move forward in the project, additional calls for internal projects will be competed based on the needs identified by each respective regional center. Goal 3: Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants program. (0% accomplished) Nothing to report for this goal at the time of this writing. We expect this goal to be more fully realized in the following year report.

Publications


    Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Researchers, producers, extension personnel, commodity groups, industry personnel, other bioenergy and bioeconomy stakeholders. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Undergraduate students, graduate students, and post-doctoral research associates are critical to the success of the many Sun Grant Program projects that will be selected through the regional and Center competitions. This training is critical for workforce development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Although only one internal project has been selected at this time, all Regional Center personnel remain in contact with stakeholders in the bioeconomy sector to make them aware of upcoming solicitations. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Goal 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions (10% Accomplished) Based on the funding availability and timelines, the Regional Centers will develop the first solicitation for the competitive grants program. Notifications of these releases will be broadly disseminated in order to attract quality proposals from diverse groups and individuals. Proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. Covid-19 may affect the timing of the release of regional RFAs. Goal 2. Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. Internal solicitations will also be released and projects selected. Goal 3. Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Both Regional RFAs and internal solicitations will encourage project awardees to provide evidence of how project results and knowledge will be disseminated.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1. Implement and manage a coordinated competitive grants program that targets the unique challenges and opportunities specific to the five individual regions (10% Accomplished) The leaders from each Regional Sun Grant Center met in Florida in January 2020 to discuss implementation of the competitive grants program. Based on the funding availability and timelines, the group decided to try to coordinate regional competitions. The first solicitation for the competitive grants program will be released sometime during the latter half of 2020 or first quarter of 2021. Notifications of these releases will be broadly disseminated in order to attract quality proposals from diverse groups and individuals. Proposals will be reviewed for scientific merit by a group of technical experts prior to selecting awarded proposals. Covid-19 may affect the timing of the release of regional RFAs. Goal 2. Contribute to regional research, development, and outreach needs by establishing internal grant programs within the five individual regional centers. At the same meeting listed under Goal 1, the leaders of the Regional Sun Grant Center decided to release internal solicitations during the last half of 2020 or first quarter of 2021, if not earlier. For example, one project has already been selected at the University of Tennessee for the Southeastern Region. The title of this project is "Frontiers in Biorefining: Chemicals and Products from Renewable Carbon" and the PI is Niki Labbé. In addition, South Dakota State University, home of the North Central Regional Center, recently released an internal RFA with proposal due on 1 September 2020. Goal 3. Utilize innovative and traditional outreach methods to disseminate information and knowledge generated by the SGP's internal and external competitive grants programs. Nothing to report for this goal.

    Publications