Source: CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD submitted to NRP
ACQUISITION OF A GC-TCD FOR ANALYZING AGRICULTURE-DERIVED GASES AND INTEGRATING ENGINEERING WITH NATURAL SCIENCE IN RESEARCH/TRAINING/EXTENSION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1024298
Grant No.
2020-70410-32907
Cumulative Award Amt.
$60,583.00
Proposal No.
2020-07701
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2020
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2022
Grant Year
2020
Program Code
[EGP]- Equipment Grants Program
Recipient Organization
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, BAKERSFIELD
9001 STOCKDALE HWY
BAKERSFIELD,CA 933111022
Performing Department
Physics and Engineering
Non Technical Summary
In light of California's goal of going carbon neutral by 2045, research related to renewable energy, climate change, and sustainable agriculture will become more important. The overarching goal of acquisition of a GC-TCD (gas chromatography-thermal conductivity detector) is to integrate the engineering science program with natural science programs (geology, biology, physics, chemistry) for 1) developing transformative multidisciplinary research programs that focus on agriculture-derived gases (e.g. renewable fuel gases, greenhouse gases), 2) enhancing student training capabilities at California State University-Bakersfield (CSUB), and 3) promoting extension activities in the nation's leading agricultural county, Kern County. There are four supporting objectives aligned with the program area goals: 1) The shared-use GC-TCD will greatly improve the analytical capabilities by filling the technical gap of permanent gas analysis; 2) GC-TCD will strengthen the quality of fundamental research and applied research in both engineering science and natural science programs through collaborative research projects; 3) GC-TCD will be used for research training of STEM students to gain hands-on experience in the proposed projects. These projects will involve women and underrepresented minorities at CSUB, a Hispanic-serving institution, and 4) GC-TCD will help the extension and collaborative research between CSUB and the University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County on agricultural sustainability projects. Moreover, the proposed research projects such as the effect of agricultural-waste-derived soil amendment on greenhouse gas emissions and enhanced renewable energy and resource recovery from orchard are aligned with the themes of agricultural climate adaption, sustainable agricultural intensification, and value-added innovations in the USDA REE Blueprint.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
45%
Applied
25%
Developmental
30%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
40374102020100%
Knowledge Area
403 - Waste Disposal, Recycling, and Reuse;

Subject Of Investigation
7410 - General technology;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering;
Goals / Objectives
The overarching goal of acquisition of a GC-TCD (gas chromatography-thermal conductivity detector) is to integrate the engineering science program with natural science programs (geology, biology, physics, chemistry) for 1) developing transformative multidisciplinary research programs that focus on agriculture-derived gases (e.g. renewable fuel gases, greenhouse gases), 2) enhancing student training capabilities at California State University-Bakersfield (CSUB), and 3) promoting extension activities in the nation's leading agricultural county, Kern County. There are four supporting objectives aligned with the program area goals: 1) The shared-use GC-TCD will greatly improve the analytical capabilities by filling the technical gap of permanent gas analysis; 2) GC-TCD will strengthen the quality of fundamental research and applied research in both engineering science and natural science programs through collaborative research projects; 3) GC-TCD will be used for research training of STEM students to gain hands-on experience in the proposed projects. These projects will involve women and underrepresented minorities at CSUB, a Hispanic-serving institution, and 4) GC-TCD will help the extension and collaborative research between CSUB and the University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County on agricultural sustainability projects.
Project Methods
The research team will work with the procurement and contract specialist and the vendor on instrument purchase and delivery after the award is made. After the order is placed, the lead time is normally 2 months as stated by the vendor. The instrument is supposed to be delivered by February 1, 2021. Agilent engineers will come to assemble and set up the instrument. Also, the application engineer will train the faculty and students on using GC-TCD. The research team will have another month (March 2021) to get familiar with the new instrument by practicing standard gases. Starting from April 1, 2021, the GC-TCD will be serving the four proposed research projects.

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/30/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this project includes undergraduate and graduate students at CSU-Bakersfield, faculty whose research is related to gas, and regional companies that need to analyze gas compositions. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1.Dr. Liu used GC-TCD to teach his "Renewable Energy Production" course (ENGR 4620). Dr. Liu showed students how energetic gas components are separated and quantified by GC-TCD. 2.Dr. Liu trained his research assistants on using GC-TCD to analyze the gas samples from the ongoing agricultural and woody biomass projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of energy and resource recovery from agricultural waste streams using GC-TCD will be sent out through the listserv of the University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The GC-TCD was finally installed and set up properly by Agilent at the end of April, 2022. Dr. Liu used GC-TCD to teach his "Renewable Energy Production" course (ENGR 4620). Dr. Liu showed students how energetic gas components are separated and quantified by GC-TCD. Also, Dr. Liu's team just started using GC-TCD to analyze the gas samples generated and stored from the ongoing renewable energy projects. More publications will come soon using the new GC-TCD. Moreover, Dr. Liu and co-PD Dr. Song have started working on a proposal regarding regional geological volatile organic compounds in which GC will be used to analyze gas components. The availability of GC-TCD at CSU-Bakersfield has been advertised through the email list of the University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County to regional agriculture-related entities. CSU-Bakersfield will be happy to analyze gas samples for the community.

Publications


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

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The target audience of this project includes undergraduate and graduate students at CSU-Bakersfield, faculty whose research is related to gas, and regional companies that need to analyze gas compositions. Changes/Problems:Due to the incompletion of the GC installation, CSU-Bakersfield has applied for no-cost extension and was approved by the USDA. The due was extened to Aug 31, 2022. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1.Agilent team will come to upgrade the GC configuration and complete the GC installation. GC will be calibrated and ready for gas analysis. 2.The gas samples collected from the ongoing transformative multidisciplinary research programs will be analyzed using GC-TCD. 3.Student researchers at CSU-Bakersfield will be trained on using GC-TCD. 4.The University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County office will advertise CSUB's capability of analyzing agriculture-derived gases and connect CSUB with the agriculture community in the nation's leading agricultural county, Kern County.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? The GC-TCD was delivered before May, 2021. However, when the GC company's engineers (Agilent) opened the package, they found the GC was not customized according to CSUB's requirements. The agilent team provided a reasonable solution in September by upgrading this GC to meet the requirements. CSUB and Agilent are still working hard to obtain related parts and specific gas cylinders to make the GC run as soon as possible. In the meantime, some multidisciplinary research programs are undergoing except the completion of gas analysis. For example, Dr. Liu was working on the project of "Enhanced Renewable Fuel Gas and Resource Recovery to Improve Whole Orchard Recycling". Dr. Liu's team obtained the orchard waste with the help from the University of California Cooperative Extension Kern County office, conducted the catalytic pyrolysis tests, and stored all the pyrolysis gas in vials for future analysis. For other goals listed in the proposal will finally be realized after the successful installation of the GC-TCD.

    Publications