Progress 11/15/20 to 11/14/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The project outcomes address a large number of stakeholders, including: - USDA NIFA and USDA Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA. (Dr. Ryan Stoklosa-collaborator) - Graduate and undergraduate students working on the project, especially with focus on engaging minority students and women in the project. - Division of Agricultural Chemistry and Division of Inorganic Chemistry, American Chemical Society - Conference participants at the ACS Southeastern Regional Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 19-22, 2022 -American Chemical Society National Meeting, March 17-22, 2024 New Orleans, LA; 2 oral presentations (graduate student presenters) accepted in the division of Cellulose and Renewable Materials. - National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) (https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-biomass.html) Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project involved training ofgraduate students and undergraduate students. The students synthesized the lignin derivatives,cellulose-aldehyde, lignin nanospheres and developed the seed coating experiments. The PD has submitted and has received USDA NIFA approval for a budget revision request in Year 2 for purchasing of an HPLC with Size exclusion chromatography feature, to complete the characterization of the chemically modified lignin and cellulose products. Both graduaate and undergraduate students in PD and key personnel groups received training on this important instrument. Two students will present at the ACS National meeting Spring 2024 (oral presentations accepted) and two publications were prepared (one submitted and one in preparation for submsission), thus providing opportunities for professional development in both oral and written scientific communication. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A. Publications. Two publications were prepared (one submitted and one in preparation for submsission), thus providing opportunities for professional development in both oral and written scientific communication. 1. Fei Zhang, Ha Na, Jake Carrier, Chen-Yu Chang, Daniela Radu, and Cheng-Yu Lai "Lignin-Based Nanospheres as Environmental Remediation Platform for Anionic Dye Contaminants", Under revision, ACS Omega, Submitted December 8th, 2023; revision requested December 28th, 2023, revision to be submitted by February 1st, 2024. 2. Jake Carrier, Daniela Radu, Cheng-Yu Lai Lignin-Based Framework as a Potential Low-Cost Sorbent for the Direct Air Capture of CO2, To be submitted by February 15th, 2024 B. Conference presentations. Two oral presentations accepted forACS National Meeting Spring 2024 to be presented by students; 1.PAPER ID: 3988193, Fei Zhang (Ph.D. Student) PAPER TITLE: "Synthesis, characterization of polyethylenimine lignin and its adsorption of dye sulforhodamine B sodium salt from aqueous solution" 2.PAPER ID: 3985021, Jake Carrier (Ph.D. Student) PAPER TITLE: "Harnessing lignin's potential: Steps towards a sustainable sorbent for carbon capture" What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This seed project aimed to develop a lignin-based, pH-responsive material that could be used as a seed coating/encapsulation system with advanced benefits to plant growth. This pH-responsive biomaterial is envisioned to serve polymer base for applications such as seed coating material. Lignin was modified with amine groups and coupled with cellulose dialdehyde, which also leads to a pH sensitive linkage engaging another renewable biomass derived material, cellulose. This slight detour was meant to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. We successfully demonstrated that the linkage was accomplished and that the application of the two components (lignin-amine and cellulose-dialdehyde) on corn seeds via spray-coating of the components in solution, led to seeds with a uniform coupled materials, in a uniform coating. The planting of coated seeds demonstrated biocompatibility of the lignin-cellulose hybrid material and just-in-time germination. The data processing is ongoing and a manuscript in preparation for publication. Synthesis of lignin derivatives resulted in a side product which surprisingly rendered lignin nanospheres, a product that could be further utilized in agricultural and environmental applications. A proof-of-concept was already demonstrated and a publication submitted and is currently under final revision. The data collection is ongoing toward a new proposal preparation.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Fei Zhang, Ha Na, Jake Carrier, Chen-Yu Chang, Daniela Radu, and Cheng-Yu Lai
Lignin-Based Nanospheres as Environmental Remediation Platform for Anionic Dye Contaminants, Under revision, ACS Omega, Submitted December 8th, 2023; revision requested December 28th, 2023, revision to be submitted by January 15th, 2024.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Jake Carrier, Daniela Radu, Cheng-Yu Lai
Lignin-Based Framework as a Potential Low-Cost Sorbent for the Direct Air Capture of CO2, To be submitted by February 15th, 2024
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Progress 11/15/21 to 11/14/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The project outcomes address a large number of stakeholders, including: - USDA NIFA and USDA Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA. (Dr. Ryan Stoklosa-collaborator) - Graduate and undergraduate students working on the project, especially with focus on engaging minority students and women in the project. - Division of Agricultural Chemistry and Division of Inorganic Chemistry, American Chemical Society - Conference participants at theACS Southeastern Regional Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 19-22,2022 - National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NRE) (https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-biomass.html) Changes/Problems:Testing of the new materials as explained in the Accomplishmentssection will require an additional project year. The PD requested and has been approved a No-cost extension year for the project. This change is already reflected in the REEPORT portal and therefore a regular progress report (this report) was prepared in lieu of the final report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?-The project involved training of two graduate students who synthesized and characterized the lignin amine, and an undergraduatestudent who designed and useda seed germination testbed. One of the graduate students has been funded by the project and the other is a recipient of the University Veteran Graduate Fellowship which covers his stipend and tuition. -As a result of the extensive reserach training and gained experience, theundergraduate student was recruited by Boston Scientific as a Co-op intern for Fall 2022-Spring 2023. -The equipment, HPLC with size exclusion chromatography (SEC)feature, was succesfullyinstalled in PD's lab in November 2021 to complete the characterization of the chemically modified lignin products. Both graduate and undergraduate students in PD and key personnel groups received training on this important instrument. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? ACS Southeastern Regional Meeting, San Juan, Puerto Rico, October 19th, 2022,Presentation by PDCheng-Yu Lai FIU Undergraduate Research Symposium, Poster presentation, Undergraduate Student What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project team plans to accomplish the following: Validatethenew process for synthesis ofaminated lignin products and completetheircomprehensivecharacterization. Evaluate concentration of amine via the new in-house fluorescence assisted method. Publish at least one journal article with graduate and undergraduate student participation and present results at least at onenational conference in the field. Interpret and organize the preliminary data and prepare a grant proposal for a standard grant to be submitted to USDANIFA, in addition to the two proposals planned to be resubmitted.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This seed project aims to develop a lignin-based, pH-responsive material that could be used as a seed coating/encapsulationsystem with advanced benefits to plant growth. This pH-responsive biomaterial will serve as polymer base for applicationssuch as seed coating material. The strategy includes lignin engineering into two components: (i). Catechol functionalized lignin, named Catechol-Lignin, and(ii) Boronic acid-functionalized lignin named BA Lignin. The functional groups on the two components enable a pH-sensitivecovalent attachment by ligation to form the pH-responsive lignin (called pH-lignin). This linkage is pH-labile at a pH 5 whichcorresponds to seed germination. In the previous reporting period, personnel shortages due to COVID-19 pandemic as well as limited facilitiesaccess during this time, led to slight modifications of the following objectives: Objective 1. Demonstrate lignin engineering to obtain Catechol-Lignin and BA lignin. Objective 2. Demonstrate coupling of Catechol Lignin and BA lignin (catechol-boronic acid ligation). The modification allowed to demonstrate the proof-of-concept.In the new approach, the lignin was modified with amine groups and coupled with cellulose dialdehyde, which also leads to apH sensitive linkage engaging another renewable biomass derived material, cellulose. This detour was meant todemonstrate the feasibility of the concept. During this project period we attempted the Objective 1 again. However, the boronic acid functionalization to obtainBA lignin was not successful as the product mixture could not be purified and the NMR study did not reveal the functionalization. Therefore, the approach used in the previous project period, was deemed more feasible as this seed project aims to get the proof of concept,and we focused on developing afacile new process for synthesis ofaminated lignin products and on theirextensivecharacterization. The following were accomplished: Amination via a Manich reaction to embed functionality with varying number of amine groups to increase aminecontent was completed. Characterization of the products was conducted by Attenuated Total Reflection(ATR)Infrared spectroscopy. Concentration of the total amine content was accomplished by elemental analysis. To evaluate the concentration of the accessible amine group content, a ninhydrin test was adapted from published methodologies used for amine group detection, usingUV-Vis method as readout. However, the scattering due to lignin aggregation lead to inconclusive data. Therefore an in-house fluorescence assisted method is currently in testing. In addition, PD has submitted two proposals to USDA NIFA, listed below. Unfortunatelly, both were declined. However, the reviews were positive and PD plans to resubmit the proposals in the next cycle. Funding Opportunity: USDA NIFA Hispanic Serving Institutions Education Grants ProgramUSDA-NIFA-HSI-008701 Proposal Title:Experiential Learning of Elemental Analysis for Food, Water and Environmental Samples by Using Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) Proposed Project Period 8/1/2022-7/31/2026 Funding Opportunity: USDA-NIFA Equipment Grants Program (EGP) Proposal Title:Micro X-Ray Fluorescence (m-XRF) for Bio-Renewable Materials and Environmental Applications Proposed Project Period 09/30/2022-09/29/2026
Publications
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Progress 11/15/20 to 11/14/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The project outcomes address a large number of stakeholders, including: - USDA Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, Wyndmoor, PA. (Dr. Ryan Stoklosa-collaborator) - Graduate and undergraduate students working on the project, especially with focus on engaging minority students and women in the project. - Conference participants: American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting with the theme: "Sustainability in a Changing World" August 21-25 Chicago, IL (hybrid in person/online format); abstract in preparation. - Division of Agricultural Chemistry, American Chemical Society - National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NRE) (https://www.nrel.gov/research/re-biomass.html) Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project involved training of a graduate student who synthesized the lignin amine assisted by PD, and an undergraduate student who synthesized the cellulose-aldehyde and developed the seed coating experiment. The PD has submitted and has received USDA NIFA approval for a budget revision request for purchasing of an HPLC with Size exclusion chromatography feature, to complete the characterization of the chemically modified lignin and cellulose products. The equipment arrived in September 2021 and will be installed in PD's lab in November 2021. Both graduaate and undergraduate students in PD and key personnel groups will receive training on this important instrument. One student will present at the ACS National meeting Fall 2022 (in preparation). How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A manuscript is in preparation for publication in a peer reviewed journal and a conference presentation at ACS National Meeting 2022, Fall. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project team plans to accomplish the following: a. Lignin engineering to obtain catechol functionalized lignin (cathecol-Lignin) and use the Folin-Ciocalteu assay to determine the free phenolic groups in Kraft lignins. b. Lignin engineering via functionalization with boronic acid (BA lignin synthesis). c. Accomplish pH-responsive lignin (pH-Lignin) through chemical condensation of the two components, catechol-Lignin and BA lignin. d. Evaluate pH responsiveness of pH-Lignin. e. Publish at least one journal article with graduate and undergraduate student participation and present results at least at one national conference in the field. f. Interpret and organize the preliminary data and prepare a grant proposal for a standard grant to be submitted to USDA NIFA.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
This seed project aims to develop a lignin-based, pH-responsive material that could be used as a seed coating/encapsulation system with advanced benefits to plant growth. This pH-responsive biomaterial will serve as polymer base for applications such as seed coating material. The strategy includes lignin engineering into two components: (i). Catechol functionalized lignin, named Catechol-Lignin, and (ii) Boronic acid-functionalized lignin named BA Lignin. The functional groups on the two components enable a pH-sensitive covalent attachment by ligation to form the pH-responsive lignin (called pH-lignin). This linkage is pH-labile at a pH 5 which corresponds to seed germination. However, personnel shortages due to COVID-19 pandemic as well as limited facilities access during this time, led to slight modifications of the following objectives, Objective 1. Demonstrate lignin engineering to obtain Catechol-Lignin and BA lignin. Objective 2. Demonstrate coupling of Catechol Lignin and BA lignin (catechol-boronic acid ligation). modification which still allowed to demonstrate the proof-of-concept. In the new approach, the lignin was modified with amine groups and coupled with cellulose dialdehyde, which also leads to a pH sensitive linkage engaging another renewable biomass derived material, cellulose. This slight detour was meant to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. One graduate student (on TA Program) was leveraged to complete this part of the project. We successfully demonstrated that the linkage was accomplished and that the application of the two components (lignin-amine and cellulose-dialdehyde) on corn seeds via spray-coating of the components in solution, led to seeds with a uniform coupled materials, in a uniform coating. The planting of coated seeds demonstrated biocompatibility of the lignin-cellulose hybrid material. A new student who will join the project in January 2022 will complete the original O1 and O2 above, while the results of the current work, involving lignin-amine and cellulose dialdehyde are in preparation for publication (manuscript in preparation).
Publications
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