Making alternative fuel vehicles work: Storage through absorption on Missouri corn cob

Abstract only availableThe USA's current demand for petroleum leads to many problems (many being global concerns as well): a dependence on foreign nations for our energy, an increase in pollution/global warming, and high gas prices. Each of those is the source of many more problems that will become worse if not addressed: Foreign dependence results in oil-effected politics and economic foreign dependence. Pollution and global warming result in an increase in the destruction of natural habitats due to changing climates, skin damage/cancer due to sun exposure, and natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes that depend on higher temperatures. Along with gas prices increasing, so will the prices of goods and services as the cost of energy to produce them increases. My research with the Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Technology addresses these issues by overcoming many of the hurdles that make current alternative fuels impractical. We have produced porous activated carbons that store high capacities of methane (natural gas) through physisorption for use in vehicle tanks. In optimizing storage capacity, we have studied production methods that vary the pore size distributions, surface areas, and densities of our carbons. We have found that the optimal pore size for methane is 1.1 nanometers and that it is best to maximize surface area and density. Our current best performers store 115-119 grams of methane per liter of carbon at ambient temperature and 34 bar, compared to the DOE target of 118 g/L. Our research is now expanding to include hydrogen storage.Alliance for Collaborative Research in Alternative Fuel Technolog

Adsorbed natural gas (ANG) technology

This invention teaches a method of manufacturing carbon so that it adsorbs large amounts of gas at low pressures due to the high surface area and associated nanopores. For example, a full tank of this carbon can hold more than three times (3x) the amount of natural gas at 500 psig than an otherwise empty tank at the same pressure. The high surface area adsorbs gas molecules by the nature of surface attraction forces. This invention has multiple viable applications. The largest market is in motor vehicles, and this research team at the University of Missouri was the first and only to reach the Department of Energy's target of holding 150x storage capacity at 500 psig (this team actually achieved 180x). This invention also covers high pressure storage, where adsorption is slightly better than ordinary compression. Because other gases adsorb onto activated carbon, this invention likely has many other applications in gaseous storage and it is made from an abundant and inexpensive source, corn cobs. Potential Areas of Applications: * Natural gas or hydrogen powered vehicles * Upstream oil operations or natural gas collection and shipping * Miscellaneous smaller markets such as oxygen tanks and other gas tanks Patent Status: Non provisional patent application on file Inventor(s): Peter Pfeifer, Galen Suppes, Parag Shah, Jacob Burress, Jeffrey Pobst Contact Info: Dr. Wayne McDaniel, Ph.D. ; [email protected] ; 573-884-330

Estimating Dementia Risk in an African American Population Using the DCTclock

The prevalence of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADRD) is increasing. African Americans are twice as likely to develop dementia than other ethnic populations. Traditional cognitive screening solutions lack the sensitivity to independently identify individuals at risk for cognitive decline. The DCTclock is a 3-min AI-enabled adaptation of the well-established clock drawing test. The DCTclock can estimate dementia risk for both general cognitive impairment and the presence of AD pathology. Here we performed a retrospective analysis to assess the performance of the DCTclock to estimate future conversion to ADRD in African American participants from the Rush Alzheimer\u27s Disease Research Center Minority Aging Research Study (MARS) and African American Clinical Core (AACORE). We assessed baseline DCTclock scores in 646 participants (baseline median age = 78.0 ± 6.4, median years of education = 14.0 ± 3.2, 78% female) and found significantly lower baseline DCTclock scores in those who received a dementia diagnosis within 3 years. We also found that 16.4% of participants with a baseline DCTclock score less than 60 were significantly more likely to develop dementia in 5 years vs. those with the highest DCTclock scores (75-100). This research demonstrates the DCTclock\u27s ability to estimate the 5-year risk of developing dementia in an African American population. Early detection of elevated dementia risk using the DCTclock could provide patients, caregivers, and clinicians opportunities to plan and intervene early to improve cognitive health trajectories. Early detection of dementia risk can also enhance participant selection in clinical trials while reducing screening costs