The Angenent Lab - Research






Research Highlights Angenent Lab in the news: bioaerosols Angenent Lab in the news: UMFC Affiliations: Dept. of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering Environmental Studies Program Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences School of Engineering and Applied Science Quick Links McDonnell International Scholarship Virtual Lab Tour Group pictures Photo Archives Women In Engineering Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs) Micro-bioreactors Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Bioaerosols in High-Exposure Environments Our overall research interests are: Bioenergy: Optimizing biological anaerobic fermentation processes to grow microorganisms that can convert wastes into bioenergy, such as biogas, bioelectricity, and biochemicals. In this area, our lab focuses on improving the performance and stability of anaerobic digesters and microbial fuel cells for waste treatment by optimizing the operation, which is possible after gaining knowledge on the microbial population dynamics obtained with molecular microbiology techniques. In addition, we are involved in converting lignocellulosic wastes into butanol through a 2-step biological process. Bioaerosols: Using molecular microbiology techniques to unravel the composition of bioaerosols and designing engineering controls to reduce the exposure of bioaerosols to humans. Most projects in these areas incorporate molecular biology assays, such as PCR assays and hybridization assays. Current Funded Research Projects: Mixed cummunity bioreactors to convert (ligno)cellulosic feedstocks into the liquid biofuel butanol-NRI-USDA-$425,000 (Angenent, Scholten [PNNL], Cotta [ARS-USDA], and Dien [ARS-USDA]). CAREER: Microbial fuel cell technology for large-scale wastewater treatment - NSF - $406,250 (Angenent). Effectiveness of membrane integrated shower outlets for increasing patient safety - Barnes-Jewish Hospital Foundation - $34,889 (Angenent, Fraser, Mayfield). Overcoming metabolic constraints of biological hydrogen production from biomass sugars by electrochemically-assisted hydrogen production in microbial fuel cells - ARS-USDA - $173,889 (Angenent). SEAD treatability of secondary biosolids from the upflow anaerobic bioreactors of Anheuser-Busch - Anheuser-Busch - $50,952 (Angenent). Improving Stability in Anaerobic Digestion for Animal Waste Treatment-NRI-USDA-$312,205 (Angenent, Shen, Floss) Completed Research Projects: Effect of variable loading rates on the anaerobic treatment of corn milling wastewater-Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in conjunction with the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center-$58,986 (Angenent). Development of the multi-phase UMFC: simultaneous electricity generation and wastewater treatment-Bear Cub-Washington University in St. Louis-$40,000 (Angenent). Inactivation of bioaerols with X-ray-enhanced coronas-MRCE-NIH-$153,000 (Biswas and Angenent) Table Rock Lake Project-NDWRCDP-EPA-$263,382 (Giammar and Angenent) Website for the Table Rock Lake Project: water quality monitoring Anaerobic migrating blanket reactor (AMBR) Research \| University \| Classes \| Home \| People \| Publications \| Contact