Alternative energy

Researchers in MSU's Center for Revolutionary Materials for Solid State Energy Conversion—an Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) funded by the U.S. Department of Energy—are developing a thermoelectric material based on natural mineral tetrahedrites. Their work was recently published in the online journal Advanced Energy Materials.

The researchers, led by Donald Morelli, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science, developed the material based on natural minerals known as tetrahedrites.

Five Russian scientists from the Production Association Sibbiopharm Ltd., based in Berdsk, the Russian Federation, spent three weeks at Michigan State University and MBI learning about fermentation pilot-plant operations.

Sibbiopharm is currently one of the leaders of bioindustry in Russia, with more than 45 years of experience in manufacturing enzymes and biotech products for the food and agricultural industries, and for environmental protection applications.

A new biofuel production process created by Michigan State University researchers produces more than 20 times the energy of existing methods.

The results, published in the current issue of Environmental Science and Technology, showcase a novel way to use microbes to produce biofuel and hydrogen, all while consuming agricultural wastes.

Researchers at the Michigan State University (MSU) Energy and Automotive Research Laboratory have developed a new optical cylinder liner system for investigation of flows inside the combustion chamber of a firing piston cylinder assembly. The “Schock Liner,” named after the inventor, MSU mechanical engineering professor Harold Schock, solves the problem of simultaneously managing thermal and pressure stresses in an optical cylinder liner, permitting combustion quantification in engines at normal operational temperatures and pressures.