Fossil fuel resources supply almost 90 percent of the world’s energy and the vast majority of its organic chemicals. This dependency is insupportable in light of rising emissions, demand and diminis...
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The platform molecule HMF is derived from biomass and converted into a variety of downstream products. One of the most important of these is FDCA, which is used as a monomer in the production of fiber...
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Commercial interest in the production of commodity chemicals from renewable sources continues to surge. Among these chemicals, α,ω-diols are particularly attractive because of the high market prices...
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Manufacturing paper and producing biofuels is difficult because the lignin in plant cell walls is tough to degrade. Current techniques are energy intensive and use harsh chemicals. In the case of biof...
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Linear alpha olefins (LAOs) are valuable commodity chemicals traditionally derived from petroleum. They are versatile building blocks for making a range of chemical products like polyethylene, synthet...
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The platform molecule 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), produced from the dehydration of C6 sugars (hexoses), is considered to be one of the top value-added chemicals. The efficient production of HMF fro...
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Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms capable of producing far more sugar per acre than corn, sugarcane or sugar beet. Unlike other bacteria and yeast, cyanobacteria use atmospheric CO2 as t...
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Slippery liquid-infused porous surfaces (SLIPS) are an emerging class of materials with unique properties. They possess useful antifouling characteristics, meaning they prevent other matter or organis...
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C3 and C4 olefins such as propene are key starting materials in the plastics and chemical industry. The main method for producing these critical building blocks is a petrochemical process called steam...
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Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is an analgesic and fever-reducing medicine. It is an active ingredient in many widely sold over-the-counter medicines such as Tylenol and Panadol. As a prescription pharma...
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Lignocellulosic biomass is a renewable energy source with great potential for generating value-added chemicals. One of the major components of biomass is lignin (15-25 percent). Due to its infamously...
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Detecting chemical and biological agents at low levels is important in military applications, drug enforcement, airport security and environmental monitoring.  A variety of devices and methods curren...
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In the U.S., coal plants produce around 50 million tons of waste each year that is rich in calcium, magnesium and other elements but is landfilled at a cost of $3-35/ton. Similarly, an estimated two b...
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Plant biomass remains a promising renewable source of important platform chemicals currently derived from petroleum. These include the chemical building blocks used to make polyurethanes (commonly fou...
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Increasing demand of petrochemical resources to produce the energy and chemical materials required by industrialized societies with growing populations combined with a diminishing supply has resulted ...
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UW-Madison researchers have developed a tandem electrochemical process for the near complete degradation of PFAS. Their process cycles between activation and degradation to avoid over producing radica...
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UW-Madison researchers have identified enzymes that are necessary and sufficient for the catabolism of the β-5 linked aromatic dimer dehydrodiconiferyl alcohol (DCA) by Novo. The first newly identifi...
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A collaborative team of researchers from UW-Madison, MIT, and National Lab of the Rockies (NLR) have developed an innovative approach for the generation of bio-based plasticizers from lignin from 4-hy...
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Researchers from UW-Madison, MIT, and NLR have developed a method for recycling Nylon 6. The method, embodied in a one-pot reactor, consists of ammonolysis followed by cyclodeamination and is realized...
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Researchers from UW-Madison, MIT, and NLR have developed a chemical process for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into muconic acid which is useful for the generation of plastics and polymers....
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Researchers from UW-Madison, MIT, and NLR have developed a chemical process for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into muconic acid which is useful for the generation of plastics and polymers....
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UW-Madison researchers disclose a scalable and sustainable redox-mediated electrochemical direct recycling method. The reaction is performed in an electrochemical flow cell consisting of a carbon pape...
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UW-Madison researchers have developed an improved method for separating purified lignin monomers from deconstructed biomass. The process couples the oxidative depolymerization of lignin, which produce...
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UW-Madison researchers have developed a high throughput electrochemical testing device (UltraLyte) comprising a microelectrode array on a glass plate, which allows for rapid screening of the performan...
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UW-Madison researchers found that Novo naturally produces the carotenoid nostoxanthin, which accumulates in its cells. Further, predicted nostoxanthin intermediates include a number of valuable carote...
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