Date Available
1-13-2018
Year of Publication
2017
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Document Type
Master's Thesis
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
Chemistry
First Advisor
Dr. Anne-Frances Miller
Second Advisor
Dr. Dibakar Bhattacharyya
Abstract
Given the amount of industrial waste produced each year, as well as the accruing amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere produced by the burning of fossil fuels, it is imperative that humanity develop environmentally-sustainable sources of energy and methods of remediation. Nature achieves both of these by use of enzymes as catalysts, inspiring interest in designing biomimetic systems capable of harnessing clean energy and remediating industrial waste. This study examined the ability of enzymes in electrochemical and convective flow systems to achieve these tasks. The first portion studied the incorporation of enzymes into an electrochemical system to drive the oxidation of water using light to harness clean energy. The second investigated the ability of enzymes immobilized into membrane pores to degrade a model component of industrial waste streams, vanillyl alcohol, using a convective flow system to allow for waste-product separation and analyzed the potential of the system to produce the valuable chemical vanillin.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2017.260
Recommended Citation
Sloan, Madison JoAnne, "BIOMIMETIC DEVICES TO DRIVE A THERMODYNAMICALLY UPHILL REACTION USING LIGHT AND TO DEGRADE INDUSTRIAL WASTE STREAM COMPONENTS" (2017). Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry. 77.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/chemistry_etds/77
Included in
Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering Commons, Catalysis and Reaction Engineering Commons, Environmental Chemistry Commons, Materials Chemistry Commons, Membrane Science Commons
