The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Tuskegee University have formed a partnership to develop new biodegradable materials for use in buildings, transportation and biomedical applications.
The collaboration combines ORNL’s expertise in bioscience, high-performance computing and advanced manufacturing with Tuskegee’s focus on biomaterials research and fosters opportunities for joint research and the exchange of information between institutions. Tuskegee’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering students will work with ORNL researchers in manufacturing science and gain access to DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL through a memorandum of understanding agreement.
“We look forward to working with Tuskegee University to deliver innovative solutions in bioderived materials research in support of a clean, efficient and thriving economy,” said ORNL’s Xin Sun, associate laboratory director for energy science and technology. “This partnership deepens ORNL’s commitment to encouraging the diversity of thought and talent needed for impactful, cutting-edge science.”
ORNL was named one of the top supporters of Historically Black Colleges and Universities for 2021 by a panel of deans of HBCU engineering programs and the Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering corporate-academic alliance.
As a world leader in materials science with an emphasis on wood and plant biomass and bioderived materials such as nanocellulose, lignin and hemicellulose, ORNL is advancing research from feedstocks to conversion to demonstration. Researchers at the MDF work with industry, universities and government partners to develop new bioderived materials for large-scale additive manufacturing, or 3D printing.
Recent achievements include creating a scalable processing technique that uses lignin, a by-product of the biofuels process, to produce a new material for 3D printing; developing bioderived polyurethane coatings and foams from lignin by-product streams of biorefineries; and generating a renewable material with shape memory that offers a low-cost alternative to conventional conductors and sensors. ORNL also collaborated with a university partner to produce a 3D printed large-scale boat mold from bioderived materials.
“This major collaboration between TU and ORNL is the result of pioneering work done by Merlin Theodore, who leads ORNL’s advanced fibers manufacturing efforts and who earned three degrees at Tuskegee University in chemical, mechanical and materials science engineering,” said Tuskegee’s Shaik Jeelani, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school. Jeelani recruited Theodore for the university’s first doctoral program in materials science and engineering and mentored her along with Mahesh Hosur.
Tuskegee has made significant scientific progress in the synthesis of nanoparticles from agricultural wastes, development of biopolymers from plant oils such as tung and linseed oils and processing of green composites with plant-based fibers and resins. Current research involves extraction of nanomaterials from waste resources, design and synthesis of biopolymers and development of advanced green composites.