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THIS ISSUE
Parking Lot Archaeology
VR For Everyone
Andean Peatlands
Immortal Batteries
MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY / 2019
SLEEP
We sleep one third of our lives. Big data
reveals why our hearts need plenty of
sleep, which may matter more to women
than men.
Research TABLE OF CONTENTS
10 SLICE OF LIFE
by Cyndi Perkins
Industrial archaeologists uncover unexpected layers of history, ethnicities,
and cultures in a small town parking lot.
12 3 PERCENT FOR THE PLANET
by Kelley Christensen
Peatlands cover only 3 percent of global land but store 30 percent of Earth’s
soil carbon. To mitigate climate change, teams restore Andean peatlands.
16 SLEEP LAB GETS TO THE HEART OF
THE MATTER
by Kelley Christensen
Researchers wake up to the importance of sleep for healthy hearts, especially
for older women.
20 A BATTERY’S GUIDE TO IMMORTALITY
by Marcia Goodrich
Batteries die fast. Engineers seek battery reincarnation through ecological
principles and old-school mining techniques.
24 EDUCATION ECOSYSTEM FOR STEM
edited by Allison Mills
Mi-STAR, Mechatronics, ETS-IMPRESS: a sustainable, empowering
education ecosystem.
28 READY USER ONE
by Stefanie Sidortsova
This isn’t your grandpa’s typewriter. Computer scientists integrate text into
virtual and augmented realities.
REGULAR FEATURES
06 RESEARCH IN BRIEF
30 AWARDS
32 BEYOND THE LAB
34 RESEARCH CENTERS AND INSTITUTES
Research is published by University Marketing and Communications and the
Vice President for Research Office at Michigan Technological University, 1400
Townsend Drive, Houghton, Michigan, 49931-1295.
Allison Mills John Lehman David Reed
Managing Editor Vice President for University Vice President for Research
Relations and Enrollment
Nicole Kelly Jason Carter
Creative Director Ian Repp Associate Vice President for
Assistant Vice President for Research Development
Crystal Verran University Marketing
Director of Operations and Communications Cathy Jenich
Assistant to the Vice
Vassilissa Semouchkina, Jessica Brassard, President for Research
Jon Halquist Natasha Chopp,
Designers Jodi Lehman
Research Office
2 RESEARCH 2019
Andrew Barnard is an acoustic
engineer. From loud stadiums
to quiet hospital hallways
to near-silent anechoic
chambers, he analyzes how
different noise sources, sound
waves, and materials interact.
2019 RESEARCH 3
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 2018 Between 2017 and 2018, Michigan Tech’s research expenditures grew 9.8 percent, totaling more than $78 million. The number reflects the University’s expanding expertise in Great Lakes research, mobility, remote sensing, and health sciences. Above water: The Great Lakes Research Center oversees the Marine Autonomy Research Site (MARS) in Lake Superior, the first freshwater test bed of its kind. It is part of the Smart Ships Coalition, which brings together researchers, policy makers, and resource managers to study and set ground rules for the use of autonomous marine vehicles on the Great Lakes. Navigating risk: In January 2018, the State of Michigan placed Michigan Tech at the helm of an independent risk analysis of the Straits Pipelines. The 41-person team looked at 4,380 simulations of “worst-case-scenario” spills. Eruptions: More than 10 faculty, grad students, and alumni responded to the eruptions in Hawaii and Guatemala. Seismic surveys and remote sensing data help geoscientists better understand volcanoes, their plumbing systems, their emissions, and evacuation protocols to keep people safe. Stream gauges: Following the June 2018 flash floods that hit the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan Tech ecologists worked with state and federal agencies to advocate for reinstalling local stream gauges. Better data means better predictions for events like last year’s 1,000-year storm. Traffic signals: The Michigan Department of Transportation installed five upgraded traffic signals in Houghton that provide a local corridor where engineers can safely study vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technology and communication. 4 RESEARCH 2019
Research Statistics
F O R E I G N | 2% 2017 INVENTION DISCLOSURES
O T H E R | 3% C R O W D F U N D I N G |
Research IN BRIEF
NOT JUST
A DAD SPORT
More young women are buying fishing licenses
in the Great Lakes region, while the number of ADVANCING
male anglers is generally declining. The finding is FACULTY CAREERS
one of several in a new study exploring regional
demographics of fishing. A more diverse STEM workforce starts with
more diverse faculty. To make that a reality,
Stefan Liebermann
Richelle Winkler, associate professor of sociology an interdisciplinary campus team has a goal:
and demography and the principal investigator for measurable increases in retention and career
the study, with doctoral candidate Erin Burkett, advancement of women and under-represented GLIMPSE THE STARS
examined changes in the angling population by minorities at Michigan Tech within the next
looking at recent trends in anglers through various three years. Among the initiatives are career Robert Nemiroff, professor of astronomy and
demographic lenses, such as gender, age, and development teams, programs addressing astrophysics, co-created the Astronomy Picture of
generational differences. intersectional disadvantages, and managerial the Day (APOD) website with Jerry Bonnell,
training for chairs. a fellow astrophysicist and staff scientist at
Each year, approximately 1.8 million recreational NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center working
anglers fish the Great Lakes. Millions more fish The National Science Foundation has granted on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope team.
inland lakes and streams across the Upper Great $1 million to Michigan Tech faculty Adrienne Nemiroff and Bonnell track down, post, and
Lakes region. Anglers play a critical role in the Minerick, Patty Sotirin, Sonia Goltz, Andrew explain images that endeavor to inspire a spirit
region’s fisheries, their related ecosystems, and Storer, and Audrey Mayer to continue the work of curiosity and open the eyes of viewers to the
fisheries management practices and policies. of existing programs and implement new ones myriad opportunities to take a voyage through
based on other university programs. space via photography.
>>>Find out what the changing face of anglers
means for fisheries management: “We are inspired by, but not bound to, the work APOD, translated into more than 20 languages,
mtu.edu/greatlakes/fishery of similar teams on other campuses,” Sotirin typically receives more than 800,000 views with
says. “We look forward to the collaborative a social media following of more than 1.3 million
development of programs that are responsive to people, popularizing science and inspiring a love
our uniqueness and that open new possibilities for of astronomy.
campus culture change, equity, and success.”
>>>Enjoy the view from this “Small and Drifting
>>>Learn more about the ADVANCE program: Planet” in an Unscripted photo essay:
mtu.news/2NtOYog mtu.news/2BzTZEm
6 RESEARCH 2019
The Sabana
Research
Station,
Luquillo,
Puerto Rico.
Tana Wood Tana Wood
BEFORE AND AFTER: researchers Tana Wood from the USFS, and
Sasha Reed with the US Geological Survey.
“We got four good years of data,” Cavaleri
says. “I’m so grateful my whole lab was there all
HURRICANES IRMA summer. I had three undergraduates there doing
AND MARIA HIT When Irma passed the island, the forest canopy projects, my PhD student was doing a project all
where the TRACE project is located was patchily
PUERTO RICO damaged. Hurricane Maria finished the job, and
summer, and they finished a full campaign. They
got back a week before the first hurricane hit. We
When Hurricanes Irma and Maria carved their marred project equipment at the same time. were lucky.”
destructive paths across the Caribbean, they left
behind grieving communities without power, These events left the researchers wondering Cavaleri and her team secured a DOE Office
badly damaged homes and infrastructure, and how to move the project forward now that of Science grant to document and study the
completely altered ecosystems. One of these many, if not all, of the parameters had been disturbance and recovery of the El Yunque
was the El Yunque National Forest, on the dramatically altered. TRACE site. They will also continue their work
northeastern side of Puerto Rico. on detailing the effects of rising temperature
“When you walk into what was previously a impacts on tropical forests and carbon storage
El Yunque is the only tropical forest in the closed-canopy forest, it’s hot, there’s no shade, through above- and below-ground processes.
US Forest Service (USFS) system, which makes and the forest is basically reset,” Cavaleri says
it ideal for understanding the effects of climate of her visit to El Yunque Experimental Forest in >>>Follow the TRACE experiment:
change where those changes will impact the January 2018. forestwarming.org
most. Molly Cavaleri, associate professor
of tree physiology in the School of Forest Cavaleri has pivoted the project with
Resources and Environmental Science, is her co-investigators into a warming and
leading Tropical Responses to Altered Climate disturbance regime study—the only one of its
Experiment (TRACE), a USFS and Department kind in the world.
of Energy (DOE)-funded project, with fellow
2019 RESEARCH 7
Research IN BRIEF
VACCINE
THE MICHIGAN LEGISLATURE Virus-like particles (VLPs) are empty viral
HAS GRANTED PLANNING shells formed by structural proteins. In
vaccines, they elicit immune responses and are
AUTHORIZATION FOR A NEW noninfectious, but can be fragile. Ebenezer
Tumban, assistant professor of biological
H-STEM ENGINEERING AND
sciences, uses bacteriophage VLPs as platforms
HEALTH TECHNOLOGIES to develop vaccines against viruses such as
human papillomaviruses (HPV), Zika virus, and
COMPLEX ON CAMPUS. THE Chikungunya virus. He uses the FEI 200kV
FOLLOWING PROJECTS, MANY Titan Themis Scanning Transmission Electron
Microscope (STEM) to assess whether the
FUNDED BY THE PORTAGE structural proteins can assemble into VLPs and
HEALTH FOUNDATION, WILL whether assembled VLPs are stable after storage
at room temperature for months.
USE THE SPACE TO CREATE
>>>Look at VLPs under a microscope with the
TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS
high-powered STEM: mtu.news/2QbrHst
TO ENHANCE HUMAN HEALTH
AND QUALITY OF LIFE.
CANCER
Cells need carbohydrates; facilitative glucose
transporters (GLUTs) bring nutrients in and out
of cells. GLUTs are the foundation of research by
Marina Tanasova, assistant professor of chemistry. WOUNDS
In partnership with Smitha Rao, assistant
Nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide are two
professor of biomedical engineering, they test
healing compounds the body naturally makes
GLUT-based fluorescent probes to detect cancer
to help close wounds. Megan Frost, associate
and distinguish one type from another, providing
professor of biomedical engineering, leads a team
a fingerprint of the disease.
using nitric oxide technology to drop the healing
ALZHEIMER’S time for diabetic foot ulcers from 150 days to
21. She joined Bruce Lee, assistant professor of
What if cognitive decline could be detected
early with motor skill learning tests? That’s
SKIN biomedical engineering, and Caryn Heldt, James
and Lorna Mack Chair in Bioengineering in
the focus of a new National Institutes of Lasers can help skin-firming serums and chemical engineering, to test a microgel powder.
Health study led by Kevin Trewartha, assistant anti-wrinkle creams. Sean Kirkpatrick, professor While making smart glue, Lee’s team discovered a
professor of cognitive and learning sciences, as and chair of the Department of Biomedical handy byproduct: hydrogen peroxide. In microgel
well as kinesiology and integrative physiology. Engineering, designs laser technology to measure form, it reduces bacteria and virus ability to infect
His team uses robotic handles and augmented the effectiveness and longevity of beauty by at least 99 percent.
reality screens to gauge how well patients think products. He partnered with Avon to create and
about and learn new physical skills, which may test experimental formulas quickly and without >>>Healing with nitric oxide is a cell-mediated
reflect early signs of cognitive impairment. relying on subjective feedback from focus groups. symphony of complexity: mtu.news/2DE4nNI
>>>Learn what kind of tech the team hopes >>>Watch how laser diffraction patterns detect >>>Healing with the sticky amino acids in
will help doctors: mtu.news/2wXJgRw skin firmness: mtu.news/2vmOKXz mussel feet: mtu.news/2zaUiUr
8 RESEARCH 2019
TIME TRAVELER historical data sets. The public uses it and so Data, shown via
maps and overlays,
do Michigan Tech researchers. They work to
Don Lafreniere, associate professor of understand industrial contamination patterns connects people to
geography and geospatial information sciences and for geoheritage tours. To manage relief place and history.
(GIS), and Sarah Fayen Scarlett, assistant efforts in Ripley, Michigan, after the June 2018
professor of history, travel through time. floods, the Federal Emergency Management
Administration (FEMA) examined historical
It started in 2013 when Lafreniere co-authored land uses.
a paper about a concept called deep mapping:
Projects curated by scholars that offer the The next steps include continuing to improve
public a spatial playground to explore open- the functionality of the program and the
ended questions about a particular place across expansion of stories within the Time Traveler’s
time. Deep maps allow multiple representations Explore app. For example, how has Michigan
of a place, rather than a solitary cartographic Tech’s campus evolved, and how did the lives,
concept created by a single person, to weave professions, and personal contributions of
rich narratives that would otherwise be lost certain people influence change?
to antiquity.
“It’s our hope that people use the platform to
Deep maps are built on scaffolds of spatial
better visualize the data they need to answer
data, which include contemporary and
their questions, to think of new questions, or
historical records from census data, personal
to learn something they didn’t know about
narratives, photographs, environmental
the area,” Scarlett says. “When people feel
information, and more. In the paper,
more connected to the places where they live,
Lafreniere wrote about the possibilities of deep
they usually make better connections with
mapping for both academics and the public.
each other.”
In 2015, Lafreniere, Scarlett, and collaborator
Explore the Keweenaw’s history for yourself:
Robert Pastel, associate professor of computer
keweenawhistory.com
science, and other colleagues, including local
heritage partners, embarked on a journey to
>>>Watch the Time Traveler in action:
create the first deep map. The Keweenaw
mtu.edu/magazine/traveler
Time Traveler, the public-facing application
of the Copper Country Historical Spatial
Data Infrastructure, allows users to contribute
to an online interactive historical atlas of
the Keweenaw Peninsula. The project starts
BY THE NUMBERS
conversations—online and in person—about
the region’s industrial past and how it continues
Stories contributed
to affect lives and identities today.
630 in the Explore app
“This project brings together qualitative and
quantitative information and allows multiple
interpretations about the past,” Lafreniere
Classifications of map
says. “We asked ourselves, how can we build an
infrastructure that allows researchers to study 259K features by citizen
social mobility, immigration, and segregation,
historians
as well as allow a framework for the public
to share their stories about how these things
played out?” Variables about people
17.4M and places across space
The Time Traveler embeds users in more and time
than 60 years of historical maps, images, and
contributed stories. It’s a compendium of big
2019 RESEARCH 9
ARCHAEOLOGY
LEVEL 1
CERAMIC
SLICE OF LIFE FRAGMENTS
LEVELS 1 & 2
Fragile Woodland-era
Chinese. Greek. African American. Native pottery, made sometime
American. Summer fieldwork uncovers deep, in the last 2,000 years,
delicate (and sometimes muddy) history. was a shocking discovery.
The shards were found
close to the surface,
Corner of Oak and 9th, Calumet, Michigan. Across from about 20 cm deep. The
the train station; built in 1885, demolished in the 1960s. But shallow depth suggests
humans lived here for as long as 2,000 years before the 818 that builders unearthed
them while excavating
LEVEL 2
Oak Street address.
the cellar. Another site
Timothy Scarlett, associate professor of archaeology and lies beneath.
anthropology, expected students conducting a two-week
survey to uncover artifacts from the Chinese laundry that
was also a grocery, boarding house, and community center
for Chinese immigrants. Starting in 1905, the owners—
who included Chung Wang, Chin Hee, and Wo Chung, TEAPOT SPOUT
speculated to be the men in the photo below—leased LEVEL 2
to Greek immigrant cobblers. As Scarlett says, “It was Late 19th-century
a big home, and people lived tight.” Life was not easy. porcelain. “We don’t
Discriminatory laws. Sweeping immigrant arrests. The know who these people
LEVEL 3
home’s façade ripped off the building after being chained are yet,” Scarlett says.
to a train. By 1916, all Chinese residents departed. Names were often
approximations. “Census
From 1927 to 1944, an African-American family set up enumerators were
house: Lulu Fowler Gardner and her kin. The home passed notoriously inaccurate
through other hands, including the State of Michigan in when counting
1958 and final owner Socrates Antioho. immigrants and people
of color. We must also
“People dig up deeper, older layers, and mix them with new dig deeply into archives
trash. Soils grow and are buried,” says Scarlett. “The detritus and oral histories.”
of daily life builds, and leaves us clues to find as we peel back
the layers.”
CHINESE
STONEWARE
LEVEL 4
Neck and lip of a
19th-century liquor
bottle. Found while
excavating deeper,
LEVEL 4
basement rubble; other
artifacts were unearthed
from yard spaces. Clear
photos of the house are
lacking; it was usually
obscured by wooden
fences plastered with
Michigan Tech Archives
billboards—profitable
ad space facing the
train station.
10 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9ARCHAEOLOGY
LEVEL 1
BLUE BEAD PURPLE GLASS
LEVEL 1 LEVEL 1
Beads—often blue— Lampshade or candy
have long been dish, an artifact
important symbols representing
in African-American middle-class stability
culture. Adornment and refinement. Fowler
or talisman, beads Gardner kept the home
convey social meaning, as a boarding house
including wealth, and her husband,
age, marital status, and John, was a traveling
political and religious barber. The artifact’s
affiliations. Blue is a domesticity belies the
LEVEL 2
color of protection stereotypical image
and security. of a poor, working-
class household.
SHELLAC
RECORD
LEVEL 1
Yodeling cowboy or
big band fox trot? PUNCHED
Stamped catalog COIN
numbers indicate two LEVEL 1
1930s possibilities:
LEVEL 3
Holes to string it for
“Rambling Yodeler” safekeeping, to wear,
by Cliff Carlisle or to hang? The answers
Jerry White Hoffman’s hinge on two pivotal
Hollywood Dance questions used to
Orchestra, “While I am evaluate potential
Here and You are historical sites for
There (How Can We further archaeological
Get Anywhere).” exploration and funding:
Is it significant? Is it
intact? The answer to
both, Scarlett says, is yes.
PORCELAIN
SHARD
LEVEL 2 LITHIC FLAKE
“Geisha pattern” LEVEL 2
china was marketed to Shallow find with age:
blue-collar American tool-making scraps.
households. Common Native American
find in mining towns, toolmakers used
LEVEL 4
historically Chinese microcrystalline silicate,
neighborhoods, and flint, agate, or chert
the trash of working- rocks for scrapers, knives,
class households. points, flintlock weapons,
“Each fragment and fire starters during
becomes a pixel in an “pre-matches” eras.
increasingly detailed Students will try
picture of people’s to “refit” the flakes
lives,” says Scarlett. to understand the
maker’s process.
2019 RESEARCH 11PEATLANDS
A peatland near the
Pastoruri Glacier in
Huascarán National
3 PERCENT FOR Park, Peru.
THE PLANET
Peatlands cover 3 percent of land and store 30 percent
of soil carbon.
Called swamps, bogs, marshes, muskegs, and MEASURING
quagmires, peatlands are much more than Chimner’s work in the Andean peatlands is in
wet, low-lying areas. Despite such ignoble partnership with the Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation
nomenclature, the planet needs peatlands. and Mitigation Program (SWAMP), a joint program
through the Center for International Forestry Research,
“All ecosystems store carbon, but wetlands store the US Forest Service (USFS), Michigan Tech, and
a lot more than all the rest,” says Rod Chimner, Oregon State University with funding support from the
professor in the School of Forest Resources US Agency for International Development. Chimner
and Environmental Science. Peatlands cover first came into partnership with SWAMP through his
just 3 percent of the Earth’s land, but store past work on Andean peatlands funded by a National
approximately 30 percent of the Earth’s soil Geographic Society Research Exploration grant.
carbon. When peatlands degrade, the carbon
releases into the atmosphere, which contributes As the effects of climate change increasingly impact
to climate change. Following the October 2018 people’s daily lives, many nations see value in measuring
publication of the Intergovernmental Panel on their carbon stocks—the amount of carbon stored in a
Climate Change’s most recent report, the need given area—and taking steps to ensure the carbon is not
for carbon sequestration to fight rising global released into the atmosphere. One of SWAMP’s primary
temperatures is more imperative than ever to goals is to help nations quantify their carbon stocks—a
prevent catastrophic climatic changes. process that involves coring peat samples, in situ gas
emission analysis, and extensive mapping.
Peatlands occur across the planet in low-
lying boreal, temperate, tropical, and even Coring peat is more than a scientific endeavor; it’s also
mountainous regions. Mountain peatlands thrive a great workout. Using a Russian peat corer, which is a
where it’s cool and wet, perfect conditions for side-cutting auger made of aluminum, Chimner, a post-
slow decomposition of organic material—the doctoral researcher, and graduate students extract peat
process by which peat is created. 50 centimeters (approximately 1.6 feet) at a time, delving
as deep as 11 meters (approximately 36 feet).
Nestled in the high valleys between the 20,000-
foot peaks of the Andes, the peatlands of Twist, twist, twist, side cut, lift the sample out. Add five-
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia do more foot handle sections to continue going deeper into the peat.
than act as carbon sinks. They also purify water Attach a carjack to help pull the increasingly long corer
as it travels from the mountains to the arid cities out of the ground. Stop to admire the scenery because it’s
along South America’s western coast, cycle breathtaking—and so is the coring effort, which frequently
nutrients, and provide grazing areas for native occurs at 14,000 feet in elevation or higher.
camelids like llamas, alpacas, guanaco, and vicuña
as well as cattle and horses. The team chunks the 50-centimeter (20 inches) sections
into 10-centimeter (4 inches) samples to analyze in
Overgrazing and other human activities lead the lab for mass, percent carbon, and bulk density to
to peatland degradation around the world. calculate total carbon stocks. The samples are like fine
Chimner explains that for global carbon compost, but old roots add structure to the peat so it
accounting to remain balanced, peatlands need isn’t crumbly. They use radiocarbon dating to calculate a
to function as carbon-capture systems, and the peatland’s age and how fast it accumulates peat.
nations where peatlands occur need tools to
protect them.
12 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9PEATLANDS
Rod Chimner
2019 RESEARCH 13PEATLANDS
For reference, Indonesian peatlands are known In Southern Peru and Bolivia, the arid conditions
Laura Bourgeau-Chavez
as the deepest in the world. They are capable made it easy to find the wetlands, but the many
of storing upwards of 3,000 megagrams per wet meadows interspersed with the peatlands had
hectare of carbon—which is 3 million kilograms similar vegetation, again making distinguishing the
(roughly 6.6 million pounds) of carbon in an two difficult. However, the carbon stocks of wet
area one-kilometer square (.38 miles square), meadows are much smaller than the peatlands, so
or the equivalent of stacking 1,743 sedans in a classifying them correctly is important to accurately
suburban backyard. calculate carbon stocks. Confusing matters in the
field, wet meadows and peatlands are frequently
Rod Chimner, John Michigan wetlands store about 1,200 megagrams called by the same name—bofedales—and Chimner
Hribljan, and master’s per hectare of carbon, while peatlands in the says this has befuddled land managers, scientists,
student Ana Maria Amazon store slightly less than 2,000. Mountain and carbon stock accounting in the past. To
Planas Clarke coring peatlands are capable of storing up to 4,000. distinguish wetland types, Chimner and others
an 11-meter (36 feet) are combining soil samples with other methods,
deep peatland in Los Here and there, too, are gray layers in stark including ground-penetrating radar and extensive
Nevados National Natural contrast to the darker peat. These ash layers remote sensing mapping.
Park, Colombia. accumulated from volcanic eruptions, which
scientists use like mile markers to accurately In addition to mapping peatlands, three long-
date the age of the peat. Once, while coring in term research sites were monitored in Colombia,
Colombia, Chimner’s Colombian guide said they Ecuador, and Peru to quantify greenhouse gas
were the only people in Los Nevados National emissions in areas unaltered by humans or grazing,
Natural Park—because it had been closed due to and those that provide a picture of whether a
volcanic activity. particular peatland is acting as a carbon sink or a
carbon source. Chimner and colleagues conduct
Moving south through Andean ecosystems, greenhouse gas flux measurements using either
the vegetation changes dramatically from the eddy flux towers (which they are using currently
rainy páramo of Colombia and Ecuador to the in the Amazon) or chambers (which work better
drier puna of Peru and Bolivia. Colombia’s and in small mountain peatlands). They look like large
Ecuador’s peatlands are frequently comprised of plastic terrariums placed on the peat. Infrared gas
sedges, grasses, and cushion plants—a misleading analyzers hook up to the chambers to measure
name as the green, hump-like mounds are quite carbon dioxide emissions and a portable, flame
hard because they are adapted to high, cold, and ionizing detector measures methane emissions.
windy areas. A human can walk across them, but These are the first carbon cycling measurements
the hooves of grazing animals can break down from Andean peatlands.
the mounds. The páramo’s weather presented
a challenge to sampling because the constant The researchers found that the natural peatlands
rain blurred the landscape, making it difficult to are still slowly accumulating carbon. But when
distinguish the peatlands. degraded by either grazing or water diversion,
the peatlands become a source of carbon to
the atmosphere.
Cushion plant peatlands of the Andes have some of
“NO ONE EVER the lowest methane emission rates of any peatlands
T H O U G H T T H E SE in the world. However, when degraded from cattle
grazing, they became large sources of both carbon
MOUNTAINS WOULD
dioxide and methane, which doubles climate harm.
H A V E TH I S MU C H Carbon cycling can be improved in degraded
CARBON. THEY HAVE peatlands by restoring the peatlands.
S O M E O F T H E H IG H E ST
MAPPING
S TO R I N G C A P A B IL IT IE S Greenhouse gas measurements are point samples.
I N TH E WO R L D . ” And while Chimner and others have taken many
point samples over the years, these samples must
—R O D C H I M N E R
be extrapolated up to the country level to provide
Rod Chimner nations with carbon stock estimates. Using modeling
14 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9PEATLANDS
Bourgeau-Chavez is beginning to RADIOCARBON
map Peru next, but her efforts are DATING
not confined to the Andes. SWAMP
is an exercise in collaborative science Radiocarbon dating allows scientists
Quito, between researchers, governments, to determine the time period during
Ecuador
and people, with benefits, insights, and which peatlands were established in
spatial management data shared across a particular area, how quickly the
borders and continents. peat has been accumulating, and
if there is loss of peat associated
“Now that the methods are with historical and contemporary
developed, we are seeking to apply disturbances.
them in the US,” says Erik Lilleskov,
research ecologist at the USFS’s Kate Heckman, Radiocarbon
Northern Research Station in Collaborative administrator at the
Houghton, Michigan. “It’s a real Northern Institute for Applied
positive for the USFS, because a lot Climate Science, supervises
of the federal lands in the American the preparation of samples for
Rockies are high-elevation mountain radiocarbon dating.
peatlands as well.”
“As all living things do, the peat
tools and remote sensing in combination with MITIGATING samples submitted to our lab contain
point samples allows researchers to map wetlands a variety of elements, including
Mitigating the effects of climate change will require
on the landscape. nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, and
concerted, multinational efforts, so SWAMP emphasizes
hydrogen, among others,” Heckman
capacity building for local communities where the
Laura Bourgeau-Chavez, research scientist at the says, explaining a process called
team samples.
Michigan Tech Research Institute, has undertaken graphitization extracts and isolates
creating national wetland maps for the project. individual carbon atoms.
“We’re training people to do leading-edge science
Using field samples, radar, and multiple multidate
in these countries to aid in their ability to manage
remote sensing imagery sources—Landsat, Radiocarbon dating only reveals
these ecosystems more effectively,” Lilleskov says.
PALSAR, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission the relative abundance of
“To the extent we can help other countries stabilize
(SRTM), and RADARSAT—in a machine- radiocarbon in a particular peat
their environment, that allows them to thrive, and to
learning algorithm, Bourgeau-Chavez creates sample, which allows scientists to
be better partners of the US and
maps that are four- to 30- calculate a calendar date associated
the global community.”
fold improvements upon with the creation of the peat.
existing maps. The environmental context, cross
“IF YOU TAKE CARE SWAMP projects include workshops
validation, and the knowledge
with local universities, government
The improved maps O F TH E P E A T L A N D S , of the scientist is then needed
agencies, and nongovernmental
show that, in Ecuador, to interpret what this date means.
NOT ONLY DO YOU organizations on how to core peat,
half the landscape or
measure carbon and methane
more is peatlands, a HAVE CLEAN WATER, The Radiocarbon Collaborative
emissions using trace gas and eddy
significant increase Y O U ’ R E S T O R I N G MO ST is jointly supported by the USFS,
flux measurements, quantify carbon
over the Ecuadorian the W.M. Keck Carbon Cycle
O F TH E C A R B O N I N stocks, and wetland ecology basics.
government’s estimates. Accelerator Mass Spectrometer
Chimner takes people into the field
TH E C O U N T R Y . I F Y O U Facility at University of California,
to demonstrate how to build check
Bourgeau-Chavez Irvine, and Michigan Tech to
confirms what a MANAGE CARBON, dams to restore damaged wetlands
advance climate and carbon science
and works with ranchers to adopt
difference mapping YOU’RE MANAGING by making radiocarbon analysis
more sustainable grazing practices.
has made to wetland accessible, decipherable, and
E V E R Y T H I N G E L S E .”
management: “This was collaborative.
“We’re teaching them how to do
the first time someone —ROD CHIMNER
this, so eventually they’ll take it over
has mapped the peatland >>>Get a behind-the-scenes tour of
completely,” Chimner says, adding
alpine regions,” she the Radiocarbon Collaborative:
that several Ecuadorian and Peruvian
says, noting that seasonal moisture patterns add mtu.edu/news/radiocarbon
students have completed graduate studies at Michigan
complexities to the mapping. “In Ecuador, even
Tech with the goal of taking their knowledge back to
the non-peatland areas are wet. If this mapping
improve Andean peatland management.
process works in Ecuador, it’ll work anywhere.”
2019 RESEARCH 15SLEEP
SLEEP LAB GETS TO THE
simulate a binge-drinking episode by
providing three alcoholic drinks before
a Brief Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale
HEART OF THE MATTER (B-BAES test, which measures alcohol’s
acute stimulant and sedative effects on
the participants, followed by three more
Using novel combinations of advanced technologies to understand sleep alcoholic drinks. The time is now 9:15 PM
and cardiovascular health. and the participant is hooked up to
the polysomnography equipment that
measures brain waves, blood oxygen
levels, heart rate, and breathing, as well
as eye and leg movements. The sleep
study continues with three more B-BAES
tests staggered every 15 minutes along
with what amounts to a more detailed
drunk driving test—blood draw,
Like death and taxes, another certainty “What implication does sleep have? We questionnaire, psychomotor evaluation.
for most Americans is lack of sleep. But sleep one-third of our lives. It’s a huge Four more B-BAES tests every 15
what does sleep loss do to our bodies? chunk of our days,” says Jason Carter, minutes, and it’s lights out at 11 PM.
What happens when we factor sex associate vice president for research
differences or alcohol into the mix? development and professor of kinesiology Both of the sleep rooms in the new
and integrative physiology. “An elephant facility not only have the capabilities
The recently opened Michigan Tech only sleeps three hours a day, while a lion of the overnight polysomnography, but
Sleep Research Laboratory aims to sleeps up to 20 hours day. We see huge also take simultaneous measurements
answer those questions by combining species variation in sleep, but we still don’t of beat-by-beat blood pressure: finger
sleep analysis technologies to provide a fully understand what sleep does.” plethysmography, which constantly
window into the effects of sleep on people records blood pressure throughout the
in different stages of life. night; pulse oximetry, which measures
GOOD NIGHT, oxygen content in the blood throughout
The two-bed sleep facility is located in
SLEEP TIGHT the night; and transcutaneous carbon
the Student Development Complex and When people check into the new sleep dioxide levels from the skin.
has a core staff of two faculty researchers, research laboratory, they find their
a sleep physician, a registered nurse who schedules are packed, which is perhaps DREAMS AND
is also a certified sleep technician, a lead surprising considering the focus of the DATASETS
doctoral student researcher, as well as session is a good night’s sleep.
The Michigan Tech facility meets all
graduate and undergraduate students.
of the physical requirements to seek a
Upon arriving at 4:30 PM, a participant in
sleep study center accreditation from the
Studies at the facility hinge on research the National Institutes of Health-funded
American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
into the effects of sleep on cardiovascular “Alcohol and Neurovascular Control in
Additionally, researchers are working
health, contributing to the broader Humans” study undergoes numerous
with sleep study software company Natus
field of sleep research—a field that is measurements, including arterial stiffness,
to add blood pressure readings to the
growing rapidly. baseline alcohol intake test, urine test, and
data. The team’s interdisciplinary, big
Beat-to-beat blood draws. After a
data approach to sleep research includes
assessment standardized dinner
biomedical engineering signal processing
of blood pressure followed by a sleep
techniques applied to physiology.
throughout the questionnaire, the
night is a participant has about
“We’re using these technologies in novel
key marker of 30 minutes of rest
combinations to better understand
cardiovascular while lying down—
the impact of things like alcohol, sleep
health. just in time for
deprivation, and insomnia on blood
Jeopardy!—followed
pressure,” Carter says. “There’s a
by blood pressure
complex relationship between sleep
measurements and
and blood pressure control. The
a psychomotor
epidemiological evidence is clear that
evaluation.
these are strongly coupled.”
Researchers then
16 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9SLEEP
Nasal cannula and EMG
electrodes track airflow and
ocular and chin movements to
complement brain wave signals.
The amplification box has 32
channels that include input of
brain wave signals.
The respiratory belt measures
respiration and height
correction unit for blood
pressure.
Continuous monitoring of
blood pressure throughout
sleep is possible through
finger plethysmography.
TRACKING ZZZS
Both of the rooms of the new sleep research lab are outfitted with
numerous technologies that, coupled together, provide the datasets
necessary to analyze what makes for a good—or poor—night’s sleep. The pulse oximeter measures
Blood oxygenation levels, blood pressure, and sleep cycles are just a oxygen saturation.
few of the nearly two dozen signals the researchers track.
2019 RESEARCH 17SLEEP
Carter and his team are using the vast datasets collected during HEARTFELT SLEEP
a night of sleep and analyzing them with advanced analytics
Humans are most at risk for heart attacks
to answer questions that were never possible before. “We
between 6 AM and noon. And a good night of
characterize based on what’s happening during different stages
sleep may matter more for women
of sleep,” he explains, “based on the physiological differences
than men.
between men and women, and based on whether insomnia is a
factor, to help guide therapeutic strategies and interventions.”
Greenlund notes that blood pressure typically
dips 10 to 15 percent during the night, and in
During the night,
people with hypertension, obstructive sleep
“ W E T A LK ABO UT the Michigan Tech
apnea, and insomnia, there’s an exaggerated
sleep research lab staff
surge of blood pressure in the morning,
EX ERCISE AND E ATI NG monitor a participant’s
potentially leading to cardiovascular events.
sleep to watch in real
RIG H T, BUT WE ALS O
time as the data is
At 7 AM, the sleep study participant is
N EED T O F O CUS O N collected.
unhooked from the polysomnography
H OW IMPO RTANT S LE E P “People say that sounds
machine, and their urine is tested for
hydration status. Researchers conduct an
IS. IT ’S LI K E BRAGGI NG like such a boring job.
alcohol intake test post-sleep to further
It’s not,” says Anne
understand how the body processes alcohol
A BOU T HO W M ANY Tikkanen, registered
during sleep, and follow that with blood
nurse and the lab’s lead
ST EPS Y OU WALKE D pressure and blood draws.
sleep technician. “We
IN A DA Y . WE NEED TO have 20 signals going
“We know men and women don’t metabolize
across the screen—we
SW ITCH THE F O CUS TO can see the stages
alcohol the same way or at the same
speed,” Carter says. “We believe there are
TELLIN G PEO PLE HO W of sleep and watch
some important differences in evening
them change. Once
MU CH SLEEP WE GO T, alcohol consumption, particularly binge
you unhook the study
alcohol consumption, on sleep and
N OT H OW LI TTLE . ” participant in the
on risk throughout the night and the
morning, those signals
following morning.”
—AN NE TI KKANEN are gone. Each signal
has to be clean, so you
After another affective questionnaire and
have to stay on top of
psychomotor evaluation, the researchers
it during the night. If a sensor falls off, you ask yourself, how Tiny sensors
begin microneurography at 8:15 AM, which
important is it to the analysis?” embedded in a
measures cardiovascular risks: blood pressure,
heart rate, nerve activity, respiration rate. finger cuff allow
Ian Greenlund, doctoral student in the sleep research for continuous
Carter likens the stress of the human
laboratory, says sleep apnea events are a common observation monitoring of
sympathetic nervous system—the so-called
during a session. blood pressure.
fight-or-flight response—to revving an engine
to redline. The team puts study participants
“Some people can stop breathing for up to 20 to 40 seconds
through stress tests in the
during an apnea,” he says. “You find yourself staring at the
lab’s safe and controlled
screen saying, ‘Breathe!’”
environment.
But study participants can rest assured, “We are closely
They mimic everyday
watching in case we need to intervene. Apneas are a common
stressors like shoveling
occurrence throughout the night, but various conditions
snow by having the person
can increase their number and severity, including obesity,”
put their hand in a bucket
Greenlund says. Obesity leads to obstructive sleep apnea—
of icy water to simulate
the excess tissue blocks airways, and when you bring in binge
thermal stress and raise
drinking, it makes apneas worse.
blood pressure. Does the
sympathetic nervous system
surge after a binge-drinking
episode? Does dehydration
factor in? The ultimate goal
18 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9SLEEP
is to understand the combined effects of alcohol on sleep and
cardiovascular risk as well as compare the physiological effects
on men versus women.
EVERYBODY NAP NOW
Population-based data suggests certain cardiovascular diseases
like hypertension are more strongly associated with short sleep
in women than they are in men. The sympathetic nervous
system’s reaction to sleep deprivation is more pronounced
in women.
“When women are deprived of sleep, their nervous systems
appear to respond more aggressively than men,” Carter says.
“There’s an acceleration of the nervous system. We see higher
blood pressures and greater potential risk for heart attack. The
surge of sympathetic activity also increases the risk of stroke.
Too much of an excitation of the body sets a person up for
negative cardiovascular events acutely and chronically.”
Alzheimer’s disease. Carter advocates for
napping because the total amount of sleep Jason Carter
The sleep research lab also recently completed a study into the examines brain
a person gets doesn’t necessarily need to be
effects of menopause on sleep. Carter says that sympathetic waves and blood
consolidated into an uninterrupted eight
nervous system excitation was even more dramatic in post- pressure
hours. Depending on your body’s needs, 30 to
menopausal women than in younger women. simultaneously
90 minutes is the ideal amount of time for an
afternoon siesta. If you wake up groggy, you’ve recorded
“We tend to see overactivity of the nervous system across throughout the
napped too long.
the lifespan of women—and the cumulative effects of sleep night.
deprivation could be a key contributor to hypertension,” he
“There’s a reason from a physiological
says. “When women hit menopause, their risk factors for
perspective people take naps around 2 to
hypertension exceed that of older men.”
3 in the afternoon,” he says. “We can get
a tremendous amount of restorative sleep
Carter notes that women tend to be “cardio-protected” in early
during a nap. I think naps represent a
life compared to men, but that women lose such protections
strong countermeasure to consequences of
when their hormonal levels change during menopause, which
short sleep.”
seems to accelerate other risk factors.
Whether it’s a full night’s rest or a good nap,
But getting a better night’s sleep consistently isn’t just
Carter wants everyone to wake up to the need
recommended for post-menopausal women. Sleep researchers
for good sleep.
hope to see wholescale societal shifts toward valuing sleep
more—and at the college level as well. College students are
“We have the ability to combine various
chronically sleep deprived, and what sleep they do get is
advanced technologies to drive creative
often low quality. Combined with the stresses of school,
interventions and make up for chronic sleep
unhealthy diet, or drinking choices, the consequences
deprivation in today’s society,” Carter says.
can be life altering.
“The real-world applicability and emphasis
of our research is to ultimately inform and
Carter says that lack of sleep is ultimately as detrimental on
educate the public on how we might avoid or
health as being overweight or smoking. “Sleep deprivation
slow down the risk for cardiovascular disease
slowly accumulates into major health problems,” he says. “We
as it pertains to sleep insufficiencies.”
use advanced technologies to answer questions that lead to
better quality of life. When you’re sleep deprived it affects your
mood, it affects everything about you.”
During deep sleep cycles, the brain’s production of growth
hormone surges, healing the body. During the rapid eye
movement (REM) cycle, memories solidify. There’s also
evidence that REM sleep reduces risk of dementia and
2019 RESEARCH 19BATTERIES
A BATTERY’S GUIDE
TO IMMORTALITY
Born again and again and again. Two engineers and their students
look at how to reincarnate lithium-ion batteries.
Nearly all lithium-ion batteries live once KICKING THE TIRES ISN’T ENOUGH
and die. Those that power our cell phones Sure, you can check an EV battery’s age and mileage, but those are only
can be charged hundreds of times, and approximate measures. “Aging depends on how you use it,” she says. “It depends on
when they fail, we can recycle them (or, a lot of different variables, like driver behavior, temperature, and driving conditions.”
many times, chuck them in the trash). In other words, batteries that aren’t taken care of won’t last as long as the ones that
amble back and forth to the grocery store.
Not so with the big batteries in electric
vehicles (EVs). “They can have two lives,” And while engineers are comfortable evaluating the condition of bridges, batteries
says Lucia Gauchia, assistant professor are another matter. “The funny thing is, people in engineering aren’t used to our
of mechanical engineering as well as systems aging so fast,” Gauchia explains. “The aging behavior of batteries is a lot
Lucia Gauchia electrical and computer engineering. “The more dramatic than other systems.”
studies the first life is in our vehicle, but that only lasts
second lives until the battery is 20 percent dead.”
of batteries.
HOW IS A BATTERY LIKE A FISH?
Being 80 percent alive isn’t good enough A couple of years ago, when Gauchia was trying to design a study to predict how
for an EV, but it’s fine for storing power batteries age, she realized that she needed to stop thinking only in terms of the
as part of a home photovoltaic system or battery itself and start looking at its environment. What she needed was to study
electrical grid. But how fine is it really? batteries the way scientists study living things. Like fish.
Just as there’s a bit of mystery to buying
a used car, it’s hard to know what you’re Fish biologists predict whether they will survive and thrive under a staggering
getting when you repurpose an old variety of conditions: differing water temperatures, pollutant levels, food availability,
lithium-ion battery. predator and competitor populations, oxygen concentrations, etc. To find out how
scientists study fish, she reasoned, read the fisheries journals.
“Because of the way batteries age, it’s
difficult to understand how its first life will “That’s when I saw that a lot of the studies use Bayesian statistics,” she says. “I went,
affect its second life,” Gauchia says. “How ‘Maybe I should turn Bayesian.’ That was an a-ha moment.”
damaged is it? How does the customer
know it’s a good, safe product?” THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH,
AND BAYESIAN STATISTICS
Bayesian statistics incorporate probability and is a standard tool for weighing the
effects of multiple environmental variables. Inspired, Gauchia took her cue from
ecological Bayesian models, except instead of trying to decide whether to stock a
lake with walleye, she aims to predict how long batteries will have useful first and
second lives.
20 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9BATTERIES
The experiment began last fall, with Gauchia Battery
and her students writing reams of code to create materials:
a computer model of a battery’s two lives, silver
including the conditions that it’s likely to face and graphite
the probability that those conditions will occur. bubbles
and black
“Then every day, I sample those probabilities to lithium
decide what the battery will do that day, and I oxide
download that profile into my test system,” powder.
an array of about 100 battery cells, all wired
up to charge and discharge at the direction of
the computer.
The model replicates how a battery might
run any day of the year, from first-life driving
conditions to the demands of its second life,
when homeowners will be doing laundry,
turning on electric heaters, powering up the
air conditioning, and maybe selling their excess
electricity back to the power company. Yes, she
admits, it is complicated.
The research is funded by a National Science
Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career
Development (CAREER) Award and also
includes an educational component: a lab
specifically for students, which will complement
the work being done in her research lab. In
addition, Gauchia, a native of Spain, has
reached out to students—Latina women in
particular—at Grand Rapids Community
College to encourage them to participate in the
study and gain research experience.
Gauchia will use her results to fine-tune the
team’s original models. “When we are done,
2019 RESEARCH 21BATTERIES
I hope to propose new management algorithms each is 95 percent or higher.” Finally, you need a
for batteries that will improve forecasts of their commercial infrastructure to make it all work. As
use,” Gauchia says. “We want to figure out how Pan notes, “Somebody has to actually use it,” and
to give them a longer life, first in EVs and then in it needs a track record.
their second life, before they have to be recycled.”
Though Pan is in the chemical engineering
department, his graduate degrees are in mining
BEYOND THE AFTERLIFE
engineering. He figured the same technologies
When a battery dies for good, recycling is the to separate valuable minerals from ore could
most sustainable option. But while nearly all old- be applied to separating 21st century battery
style automotive batteries are recycled, that’s not components. So, he assembled a team of students,
the case with their lithium-ion counterparts. gave them a crash course in basic minerals
processing methods, and set them loose in the lab.
“There is no plant in the US for recycling lithium-
ion batteries,” says Lei Pan, assistant professor
of chemical engineering. That’s because there’s STEP 1: FIND THE
no economically viable recycling program, and BATTERIES
federal law does not mandate the recycling of The crew needed to get their hands on a bunch
spent lithium-ion cells. As a result, people usually of spent lithium-ion batteries. They found several
just toss them into the garbage. Nevertheless, willing donors, including Michigan Tech’s Office
Students help lithium-ion batteries can be highly problematic of Information Technology, the Marquette
Gauchia and in landfills. They contain trace amounts of toxic County Solid Waste Management Authority, and
Pan study battery chemicals, and unless they are fully discharged, the owners of various old laptops and consumer
reincarnation. batteries have an alarming tendency to catch fire electronics. Then, the team discharged the
and blow up. batteries and opened them all manually, removing
the plastic casings to obtain more than 100 cells.
SOMETHING OLD FOR
SOMETHING NEW STEP 2: BREAK
The main stumbling block for recycling lithium- EVERYTHING APART
ion batteries is that the two conventional They shredded the batteries’ copper and
recovery technologies are expensive, says Pan. aluminum conductors, then pulverized the anodes
In pyrometallurgy, the most valuable materials, and cathodes to dust before blending the whole
copper and cobalt, are melted and converted mix in water to create a slurry. Their challenge
into an alloy, which is processed to make the raw was then to separate out each of the original
materials for new batteries. The second process, components—especially the high-value cathode,
called hydrometallurgy, uses acid to leach metals which often includes cobalt as well as lithium.
into solution and convert them to salts, which
must be processed into new materials before “My mind goes back to the beginning, when
becoming the feedstock for new batteries. nothing was working,” says team member and
Cathode ( + ) soon-to-be graduate Trevyn Payne. Fellow
“Those processes convert the material you chemical engineering student Zachary Oldenburg
Electrolyte want into something else and then back into provides an example. “We were trying all kinds
what you want,” Pan says. “That’s a waste of of solvents to liberate chemicals, and after hours
Li-Metal Oxides energy.” Federal agencies are asking the research and hours, we found out that plain water worked
community to try a different approach: separating the best.”
materials in the batteries without changing their
chemistry. If it were easy, someone would have Eventually everything came together. “You
Separator done it already. can see your results improve experiment by
experiment,” doctoral chemical engineering
“There are a lot of challenges,” Pan says. “You student Ruiting Zhan says. “That’s pretty good.
Graphite have to make sure the battery components remain It gives you a sense of achievement.”
intact during the recycling process. You have
to separate each component—there are a lot
Anode ( - ) of components—and make sure the purity of
22 R E S E A R C H 2 0 1 9BATTERIES
STEP 3: SORT THE MATERIALS
The students developed two separation techniques
designed to form the heart of a commercial recycling
process. To retrieve the aluminum and copper bits, they
ran the slurry through a screen. That left them with a
mix of coarsely shredded metals. To sort them, the team
used the ancient technique of gravity separation, relying
on typical industry tools: a shaker table, a teeter-bed
separator, and a spiral separator. Like a miner panning
for gold, the machines isolate materials by density,
sorting them into near-pure copper, aluminum, lithium-
metal oxide, and graphite.
Separating the dust from the anodes and cathodes was
more complicated. The team used a technique called
froth flotation, which relies on materials’ different
affinities for water. Air is bubbled through a solution
containing the particles, collecting those that are
hydrophobic in a froth at the surface, where it can be
skimmed off. In this case, the graphite from the anodes
floated in the froth, while the valuable cathode material
sank to the bottom. plant that can be operated continuously.
Inspired by
It will start by crushing whole batteries
mining, Lei Pan
and add steps to separate out all the
STEP 4: PUT THEM BACK materials, including plastics and steel extracts battery
TOGETHER AGAIN casings. When they are sorted and cleaned, components.
The students were able to recover approximately 75-90 the components can be remade into new
percent of the cathode material and verify its purity at batteries or recycled for other uses.
more than 95 percent. To put it to a real-world test, they
made a working battery from the isolate. The results “A similar process has been used to recycle
were gratifying. “For the purpose of remanufacturing, lead automotive batteries for about a
our recycled materials are as good as virgin materials, hundred years,” Pan says. More than 99
and they are cheaper,” says Oldenburg. percent of lead batteries are recycled,
according to Battery Council International,
They also did an economic analysis comparing their and the average lead battery is made of
methods with the standard pyrometallurgy and more than 80 percent recycled material,
hydrometallurgy techniques. The bottom line: Their from lead and plastic to sulfuric acid. The
process yielded more valuable materials at a lower cost. near-perfect recycling rate comes from
“The biggest advantages of our process are that it’s very industry investment in a system that keeps
inexpensive and very energy efficient,” Pan says. 1.7 million tons of batteries out of landfills
each year.
Their work caught the eye of the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), which gave the team “We are applying the same model to the
its 2018 Youth Council on Sustainable Science and lithium-ion battery,” Pan says. “The idea
Technology P3 Award. They were invited to give an is simple. It’s just a matter of making sure
oral presentation on their process at AIChE’s Annual everything works.”
Meeting in Pittsburgh last fall, with AIChE covering
their travel expenses. And they hope to make it work on a
national scale. Pan is one of the researchers
WHAT’S NEXT: PROOF OF involved with the new Battery Recycling
CONCEPT R&D Center, an initiative funded by the
US Department of Energy and led by
With funding from the Michigan Tech Translational
Argonne National Laboratory. From cobalt
Research and Commercialization (MTRAC) Statewide
to lithium, they plan to make reclaiming
Innovation Hub, the Environmental Protection Agency,
battery materials as common as lead.
and an Innovation Corps grant from the NSF, Pan is
working toward making a bench-scale, battery-recycling
2019 RESEARCH 23You can also read
