ChemLine 
Marion Johnson 563-243-5350 A publication of
Secretary The Illinois-Iowa Section of
marjoh@clinton.net The American Chemical Society
November 2003
If you have items to be included in the next newsletter, submit the items by November 21 to the Secretary.
For the latest information about upcoming events, visit our website at http://membership.acs.org/I/ILIA/
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NOVEMBER MEETING
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
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Location: |
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Grain Processing Corporation and Kent Feeds, Inc. Training Center 1600 Oregon St. Muscatine, Iowa 52761 (see map) |
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Times: 6:00 – 6:30 PM 6:30 – 7:15 PM |
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Social Dinner: Salmon or grilled chicken, green bean casserole, baked potato, bread, beverage, dessert
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7:30 – 9:00 PM |
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Business Meeting and Program: Dr. Badal Saha, USDA “Fuels and Chemicals from BioMass” |
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Reservations: |
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Member/Guest: Cost $14, Students $7 (Please note the sponsor-a-Student Program below.) |
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Deadline for Meal Reservations: Friday, October 31 Please indicate choice of salmon or chicken. Also note if you are participating in the Sponsor-a-Student program. Contact: Rich Craddick, (563)-264-4394, or rich_craddick@kentfeeds.com |
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Sponsor-a-Student: We are again looking for volunteers to sponsor a college student at the October meeting. Your part is to pay the meal cost of one student – or ask your employer to pay the cost – and spend the social and dinnertime visiting with the student that you are matched with. Whether you are currently employed, retired, or between jobs, you have much to offer to a student planning a science-based career. Additionally, after this brief mentoring experience you will likely find that you too have gained a lot. Please take part by signing up when you make your dinner reservation with George Bailey.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
The Augustana chemistry department made the evening news with their chemistry open house. Thus begins National Chemistry Week. I hope everybody interested participates in some activity in addition to monthly meetings. Volunteer for National Chemistry Week or the Chemistry Olympiad. Nominate somebody for an award. Attend a national or regional meeting. It is a bit more work in your busy life but you won’t regret it.
Our last local section meeting was a very enjoyable stroll through the sordid world of the absinthe addict. If you are considering this hobby you will need a special spoon, sugar and water in addition to the green liqueur. Thanks to Dr. James O’Brien for an enlightening talk and St. Ambrose College, our hosts. We will assemble this month at Kent Feeds where the program will be about renewable fuels and the food will be excellent. Best wishes, Alan.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Dr. Badal Saha is a Research Chemist and Lead Scientist with the Fermentation Biotechnology Research Unit, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, and Peoria, Illinois. He conducts basic and applied research on the conversion of waste and underutilized agricultural residues to fuel alcohol and value-added fermentation products. Dr. Saha was previously a Research Scientist with the Michigan Biotechnology Institute, Lansing, Michigan (1985-92) and Assistant Visiting Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Dr. Saha did his post-doctoral training in Enzymology at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland after receiving his M. S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1984) in Microbial Technology from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. He received his B.Sc. (Honors) and M.Sc. in Biochemistry from Dhaka University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dr. Saha also holds a post-graduate diploma in Microbiology and Biotechnology (one year UNESCO course) from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan. Dr. Saha has more than 100 research publications that include book chapters and review articles, 3 US patents and has made numerous invited presentations. He has edited a book on 'Fuels and Chemicals from Biomass' (1997) and another one on 'Applied Biocatalysis in Specialty Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals' (2000). Dr. Saha is currently editing a book on 'Fermentation Biotechnology' (2203). He is on the Editorial Board of Bioresource Technology, Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology and World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology, and has organized symposiums at various national meetings. Dr. Saha is an ad-hoc reviewer of 20 other scientific journals and research grant proposals for USDA and NSF. He has served Peoria Local Section-ACS as Chair-Elect (2000), Chair (2001) and Past Chair (2002). Dr. Saha is currently serving as Chair of Awards & Honors Committee, The Society for Industrial Microbiology (SIM) and in 2003 SIM Annual Meeting Program Committee.
ABSTRACT
Fuel ethanol production in the USA has grown from an insignificant amount in the late 1970's to a record of over 2 billion gallons in 2002. More than 95 percent of this fuel ethanol is produced by fermenting glucose derived from corn starch. Various lignocellulosic agricultural residues such as corn fiber, corn stover, rice straw, wheat straw and sugarcane bagasse and energy crops such as switchgrass are available as low-cost feedstock for production of biofuels. The process of converting these materials to ethanol includes feedstock pretreatment, enzymatic saccharification, fermentation and product recovery. At present, no commercial process exists in the USA for such manufacturing, although efforts are underway. Success depends primarily on the development of an effective pretreatment process for rapid enzyme accessibility while minimizing the formation of fermentation inhibitors, as well as highly efficient enzymes for conversion of pretreated substrates to simple sugars. Pretreatment options include dilute acid, steam explosion, ammonia fiber explosion (AFEX), alkali and alkaline peroxide treatment. Currently, the cost of cellulase enzymes is 50 cents per gallon of ethanol produced from pretreated corn fiber substrate. Research emphasis is being directed towards lowering the cellulase enzyme cost by a factor of 10. A number of recombinant microorganisms have been developed at various Laboratories in the USA to ferment mixed sugar substrates to ethanol. In this presentation, the current state of technology research and process development in the United States, and efforts to bring this technology into the market place will be reviewed.
CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD
The Chemistry Olympiad 2004 will be held at Clarke College under the direction of Dr. Mary Lou Caffery in March. The date will be announced in the next newsletter.
NATIONAL CHEMISTRY WEEK
As the November issue of ChemLine goes to press, many exciting activities are occurring in celebration of National Chemistry Week. Look for a full report of the sponsors and events in a later edition of this newsletter.
UPCOMING MEETINGS
The December meeting will be held at Black Hawk College hosted by Sally Rigeman. Awards will be presented at this meeting.
Tentatively, the January meeting will be held in Bettendorf; the program will involve a talk about Crime Scene Investigations.
COUNCILOR’S REPORT
Councilor Mel Peterson was one of 14,000 who attended the Fall meeting of the American Chemical Society in New York City, September 2003. It was a relatively quiet counsel meeting with few items to be voted on. Several people were recognized for long service on the ACS Governance Committee, among them Marvin Lang (Chem magic). The theme for the 2004 National Chemistry week will be the chemistry of health.
Contact us:
Chair: Dr. Alan Abbott Audit Committee Chair Public Relations Committee Chair
(309) 852-5671, ext. 6253 Mr. Richard Helms Mr. Richard Kissack
abbotta@bhc.edu (563) 264 – 4240 (563) 242 – 4812
FAX (563) 264 – 4216 rkissack@clinton.net
Chair Elect: Jerod Corbin Education/Grants and Awards National Chemistry Week
(563) 243-3943 Committee Chair Coordinator 2003
sethnesslab@revealed.net Dr. Sally Rigeman Jerod Corbin
FAX (563) 243-1663 (309) 797-4369
srigeman@netexpress.net
Secretary: Mrs. Marion Johnson
(563)243-5350
marjoh@clinton.net Kiser Scholarship Committee Chair
Mr. Rich Craddick
Treasurer: Rich Rogers (563) 264 – 4394 Webmaster
rickgpc@mchsi.com (FAX) (563) 264 – 4367 Craig Willi
rich_craddick@kentfeeds.com craigwilli@juno.com
Councilors: Brian Mundell
brian@bio-researchprod.com Mentoring Committee Chair
Dr. Lisa B. Fields
Mel Peterson (563) 264 – 6039
chpeterson@augustana.edu lisafields@direcway.com
Please Post
“Fuels and Chemicals from BioMass”
Dr. Badal Saha, USDA
November 4th, 2003
7:30 – 9:00 PM
Grain Processing Corporation and Kent Feeds, Inc.
Muscatine, Iowa
Contact: Rick Craddick, (563)264-4304, rich_craddick@kentfeeds.com
Please Post