• Question: What was the first thing you discovered?

    Asked by 926enek48 to Emma, Karla, Shane, Stephen, Yang on 14 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Emma Hanley

      Emma Hanley answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      One thing in my Masters degree I discovered and researched was the optimal operation of a hydrogen storage system and a battery storage system, whether one was better than the other to use them in some combination.

    • Photo: Karla Dussan

      Karla Dussan answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Something I discovered during my PhD was about some reactions that happen once you have “dissolved” biomass (like woods or plants) in organic solvents… There is a particular molecule you want to produce from a certain type of carbohydrate or sugar found in plants. Plants are made of three components that are of interest for the production of fuels and chemicals: these are cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. The first two are made of carbohydrates, the third one there is made of aromatic molecules that are not so easy to react like the carbohydrates…. Once you dissolve the lignin, it may “capture” part of the hemicellulose and thus you cannot obtain the molecule of interest from hemicellulose (called furfural)…

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