US-UK Planning Visit: Collaborative Research on Production of Bio-adhesive from Bio-mass

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OISE 10-46141Elham FiniNorth Carolina A&T State UniversityThis project provides support for a one-week planning visit ? for the PI, four junior faculty and three underrepresented US students - to the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. The US principal investigator is Elham Fini from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University. The foreign collaborator is Gordon Airey. The primary purpose of this planning visit is to establish collaborative research on production and characterization of sustainable construction adhesive from bio-mass while sequestering carbon and reducing green house gases that would otherwise be released to the atmosphere.While there have been several studies on the conversion of bio-mass to bio-fuel, little attention has been give to the use of the heavy sticky residue remaining after the conversion. To date, the focus has been on extraction of the light hydrocarbon used as fuel and the heavy residue treated as a waste. Initial studies done by the PI and her UK collaborator show that this so called waste material can be chemically modified to produce bio-adhesives for several construction purposes while sequestering carbon in the bio-adhesive. This project fulfills the program objectives of providing US junior faculty and students with a global perspective and access to unique facilities and expertise. It also aims to address the technical, environmental and economical aspects of this interdisciplinary research.