Uma Menon (VI), Arjun Goel (VI), Jonah Park (V), Arnav Jain (V), Dean Zervos (V), Amelia Liu (IV), Sarah Bonilla (IV)
Project Summary
Our project is focused on finding a novel way to strengthen wood. After our time at Rutgers, we were trying to find a way to use their novel form of CO2 sequestration and strengthening of cement in other substances. So, after seeing a video on strengthening bulletproof wood, we devised a procedure that allowed us to carbonate wood. Over the past couple months we have been focusing on preparing the wood, trying to leech lignin out of the wood so we are left with mainly cell wall, the strongest component in wood.
Project Goals
- developing a good proceedure for delignification with optimal amount of lignin left
- carbon sequestration and strengthening process
- testing strengthened wood using a variety of metrics
Works Cited
Li, Q., Gupta, S., Tang, L., Quinn, S., Atakan, V., & Riman, R. E. (2016). A novel strategy for carbon capture and sequestration by rHLPD processing. Frontiers in Energy Research, 3(JAN), Article 53. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenrg.2015.00053
Maturana, J.C., Guindos, P., Lagos, J. et al. Two-step hot isostatic pressing densification achieved non-porous fully-densified wood with enhanced physical and mechanical properties. Sci Rep 13, 14324 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41342-8
Song, J., Chen, C., Zhu, S. et al. Processing bulk natural wood into a high-performance structural material. Nature 554, 224–228 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature25476
Faculty Advisor
Dr. Keyer
