Chme 498-Undergraduate Research

Sarah Lyons

ChME 498-Undergraduate Research

Brewer Research Group

Last semester, I began my journey in undergrad research and decided to continue on with it during the Spring semester. We continued our NASA research project entitled, “Waste Processing with Pyrolysis to Recover Water and Nutrients on Spacecraft”. Despite some issues early on in the semester, we were able to obtain a few biochar samples.

Two chars were created this semester, one at 400°C and one at 500°C. These chars were collected and analyzed using a variety of techniques. First, SEM photos were taken of each char at different magnifications to get an idea of what their surface was like. From the SEM, we could see that the chars didn’t have many pores on their surface. The samples were also analyzed using a series of tests normally used on soils. Unfortunately, these tests showed that our chars don’t quite have the right characteristics for growing plants. Hopefully further runs will provide chars with better characteristics for plant growth. One problem we noticed was that the high amount of aluminum in the samples threw of the results. We also noticed that the higher temperature chars were more likely to absorb water compared to the lower temperature chars. CHNS samples for these chars have been prepared but are waiting to be run due to the column being broken. I expect these to follow a trend similar to other biochars, with the higher temperatures resulting in higher carbon contents.

Since I will be graduating this May and the project has not been completed, I spent the semester showing two new students the in’s and out’s of the space waste. Starting this summer, they will begin pyrolyzing the remaining bags and analyzing them using CHNS, SEM and the various soil techniques. I was also able to present this project at a variety of conferences this semester. At the AIChE Rocky Mountain Regional Conference, I placed 3rd in the research poster competition. The same poster was also presented at the NM Space Grant Student Colloquium since they provided me with funding this semester.

Files for all the mentioned analysis have already been sent. These include: microwave digestion, soil characteristics and SEM photos.

Chars Created

SEM Photos of 500°C Char (left) and 400°C Char (right)