Waiting For Results

Author: Samantha Glidewell | Major: Chemical Engineering and French | Semester: Spring 2023

This past semester has been my first semester working in the polymers and nanotechnology lab under my mentor Dr. Keisha Bishop Walters with the department of chemical engineering. I found my mentor last year at a meeting for the University of Arkansas Society of Plastic Engineers. I found her research to be really interesting, and seeing as plastics was one of the primary subjects that got me involved in chemical engineering I was eager to get involved with the lab. I was really interested in the research being done by one of Dr. Walters’ graduate students, David Chem, and I was lucky enough to be welcomed onto the project. The focus of this project has to do with an abundant naturally occurring polymer, lignin, and its modification for different amplified engineering properties. Currently lignin is extremely underutilized due to its low reactivity, but this project aims to functionalize the biopolymer and give it new purposes.

I spent the beginning few weeks of the semester getting to know the lab, equipment, safety and chemical procedures for my project. This semester I focused on lignin amination with applications in dye removal water treatment. The process to add amine groups to lignin is quite involved. I began by purifying the alkaline lignin before carrying out lignin phenolation. The phenolation prior to amination was chosen intentionally to increase the number of aromatic hydroxyl groups on the polymer. These groups further promote the ortho-para addition of the amine groups on lignin, hence producing a higher percent yield. Because amine groups exhibit a partial positive charge, I was able to utilize this in the removal of anionic dyes from solution. I tested this by utilizing the aminated lignin to remove Congo red and methyl orange dyes from solution at various pH values and concentrations.

After gathering a substantial amount of data, I made a poster to present my semester’s research at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Mid-America conference at the University of Missouri this past April. This was the first research conference I have ever attended, and it was so much fun to be a presenter at the same time! I traveled to the conference with a small group of chemical engineers from the U of A presenting about so many exciting topics. Attending this conference was such a great way to tie up all of this semester’s hard work and being able to present my own research was extremely rewarding.  Moving forward in my research this fall I plan to redirect my research towards lignin based polyurethanes by creating lignin based polyols and isocyanates.

Working in this lab has been such an amazing, exciting, and insightful experience. I am surrounded by an incredible group of intelligent and hardworking individuals, especially David Chem and Dr. Walters. After participating in undergraduate research for only one semester I see a positive future for myself in a Ph.D. graduate program! I am eager for the coming semesters and would encourage any student to get involved in undergraduate research.