US-Kenya Cooperative Research: Bioreactors for Synthesis and Pollutant Decomposition in Microemulsions

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0096456RuslingThis award supports a two-year collaborative research project between Professor James Rusling, in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Connecticut, and Professor Geoffrey Kamau, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Nairobi.The PI will conduct a study on the use of bioreactors for synthesis and pollutant decomposition in microemulsions. Microemulsions are clear, stable fluids made from oil, water, and surfactant. They are less toxic and less expensive than alternative organic solvents, and have shown great promise for controlling and enhancing rates of catalytic electrochemical reactions. New catalytic protein films designed specifically for microemulsions combined with kinetic control by fluid composition may provide a basis for future cost-effective and environmentally benign processes for synthesis of organic chemicals. The collaborators expect to elucidate fundamental principles by which interactions between the protein films and the microemulsions may be used to control reaction kinetics. Electrolysis, product analysis, and voltammetry to monitor film properties and catalytic efficiencies will be done at the University of Nairobi. Kamau and a graduate student will visit Rusling and his students to conduct specialized characterization experiments using instrumentation at the University of Connecticut. The results of this grant should provide fundamental guidance for the future design of electrochemical synthetic processes involving protein film catalysis in relatively inexpensive, low toxicity, water-based fluid media. The methods to be developed involve novel approaches to biotechnology, without resorting to the use of highly sophisticated or complicated technologies. The Division of International Programs, the Division of Chemical Transport System, and the Division of Chemistry are jointly supporting this project.