News Release
NC State's Henderson Receives Awards from Military Research Offices
Media Contact(s)
Dr. Wesley Henderson, (919) 513-2917
Nov. 27, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dr. Wesley Henderson, assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at North Carolina State University, has received both the Army Research Office (ARO) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator (YIP) awards. These awards are among the highest given to young faculty in science and engineering.
As part of the ARO YIP award, Henderson will receive $150,000 over the next three years to fund his research project, "ResZwit (Resonance Zwitterion) Additives for Ionic Liquid Electrolytes." The goal of the project is to develop molecules that will allow ionic liquids used in portable power systems, such as lithium batteries and electrochemical capacitors, to become a more viable alternative for use in high-power devices. The benefit of using ionic liquids is their thermal stability and nonvolatility, which makes them safer in the field.
The AFOSR YIP award will provide $331,629 in funding over three years to support a second research project, "Biomass Processing Using Ionic Liquids for Jet Fuel Production." This project will focus on developing ionic liquids to improve the manufacture of fuels – particularly jet fuel – from renewable lignocellulosic biomass.
Currently, the biomass must be pretreated to separate the cellulose, which will be converted to fuel, from the lignin and other biomass components. This step is usually expensive and therefore hinders the economical production of biofuels. Henderson's research project will develop ionic liquids (liquid salts) for use in the pretreatment step that will not only separate the waste material, but may also serve as the medium for the enzymatic conversion from the starting cellulose to the intermediate glucose sugar that will ultimately become the fuel. These ionic liquids may be recycled after this treatment process, further reducing cost and environmental impact.
Henderson, who joined the College of Engineering in August 2007, received his bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1996 and his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Minnesota in 2002.
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