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Ezinne Achinivu

PhD, Lab Director

929 W. Taylor St., 174 EIB, MC 110, Chicago, Illinois 60607
Phone: (312) 996-3469
Email: achinivu@uic.edu

Outlook for the "Achinivu" Lab

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  • Isolate: Extraction, purification, recovery and characterization of compounds of significance and value from waste biomass (biopolymers and bioactives)
  • Apply: Application development (chemical functionalization/derivatization, material formation and product formulations)
  • Produce: Process development (life cycle analyses, techno-economic analyses and process modeling/scale up and process automation/machine learning)

Research Thrusts (IAP): Isolate

Scope: Extraction, purification, recovery and characterization of compounds of significance and value from waste biomass (biopolymers and bioactives).
Motivation Challenge Approach Aims
• There has not been commercially viable biomass processing technique
• Limitation on industrial adoption 		• Poor understanding of biomass composition and structure
• Industry treats biomass like synthetic chemicals 		• Study molecular level structure interactions and
• Design tailored solvents for effectiveness, selectivity, cost and recyclability 		1. Biomass 3D modeling and compositional analyses
2. Computational, analytical and statistical modeling of lignin extraction
3. Deep dive into mechanistic studies

Research Thrusts (IAP): Apply

Scope: Application development (chemical functionalization/derivatization, material formation and product formulations)
Motivation Challenge Approach Aim
• Lignin applications have not been fully addressed
• Lignin has unique properties that are of interest to industrial application 		• Heterogeneity of native lignin
• Scientific community does not fully know what lignin is
• No high-quality lignin stream* 		• Develop novel material based on lignin
• Incorporate with biomass components (cellulose, proteins, phenolic acid) 		1. Complete characterization of the biomass fractions
• Develop composite (lignin with cellulose)
2. Demonstrate different material architectures
3. Characterize performance in specific applications

Research Thrusts (IAP): Produce

Scope: Process development (life cycle analyses, techno-economic analyses and process modeling/scale up and process automation/machine learning)
Motivation Challenge Approach Aim
• There has not been commercially viable biomass processing technique
• Limitation on industrial adoption 		• No process development
• No process modeling
• Process economics
• Sustainability (TEA/LCA)
• Pilot and scale up 		• Apply green chemistry and engineering principles
• Sustainable energy – triple bottom line
• Reaction engineering 		1. Process optimization (DOE)
2. Process modeling
• Economics
• Life cycle
• Applications
3. Scale up and reactor design