Matching Items (2)
Filtering by
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
- Resource Type: Text
Description
Alzheimer’s disease is a major problem affecting over 5.7 million Americans. Although much is known about the effects of this neurogenerative disease, the exact pathogenesis is still unknown. One very important characteristic of Alzheimer’s is the accumulation of beta amyloid protein which often results in plaques. To understand these beta amyloid proteins better, antibody fragments may be used to bind to these oligomers and potentially reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
This thesis focused on the expression and crystallization the fragment antigen binding antibody fragment A4. A fragment antigen binding fragment was chosen to be worked with as it is more stable than many other antibody fragments. A4 is important in Alzheimer’s disease as it is able to identify toxic beta amyloid.
This thesis focused on the expression and crystallization the fragment antigen binding antibody fragment A4. A fragment antigen binding fragment was chosen to be worked with as it is more stable than many other antibody fragments. A4 is important in Alzheimer’s disease as it is able to identify toxic beta amyloid.
ContributorsColasurd, Paige (Author) / Nannenga, Brent (Thesis advisor) / Mills, Jeremy (Committee member) / Varman, Arul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Fossil fuels are currently the main source of energy in the world’s transportation sector. They are also the primary contributor to carbon emissions in the atmosphere, leading to adverse climate effects. The objective of the following research is to increase the yield and efficiency of algal biofuel in order to establish algal-derived fuel as a competitive alternative to predominantly used fossil fuels. Using biofuel commercially will reduce the cost of production and ultimately decrease additional carbon emissions. Experiments were performed using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) to determine which catalyst would enhance the algal biocrude oil and result in the highest quality biofuel product, as well as to find the optimal combination of processing temperature and manure co-liquefaction of biomass ratio. For the catalytic upgrading experiments, Micractenium Immerum algae was used in conjunction with pure H2, Pt/C, MO2C, and HZSM-5 catalysts at 350℃ and 400℃, 430 psi, and a 30-minute residence time to investigate the effects of catalyst choice and temperature on the crude oil yield. While all catalysts increased the carbon content of the crude oil, it was found that using HZSM-5 at 350℃ resulted in the greatest overall yield of about 75%. However, the Pt/C catalyst increased the HHV from 34.26 MJ/kg to 43.26 MJ/kg. Cyanidioschyzon merolae (CM) algae and swine manure were utilized in the co-liquefaction experiments, in ratios (algae to swine) of 80:20, 50:50, and 20:80 at temperatures of 300℃ and 330℃. It was found that a ratio of 80:20 at 330℃ produced the highest biocrude oil yield of 29.3%. Although the 80:20 experiments had the greatest biomass conversion and best supported the deacidification of the oil product, the biocrude oil had a HHV of 33.58 MJ/kg, the lowest between the three different ratios. However, all calorific values were relatively close to each other, suggesting that both catalytic upgrading and co-liquefaction can increase the efficiency and economic viability of algal biofuel.
ContributorsMurdock, Tessa A (Author) / Deng, Shuguang (Thesis director) / Varman, Arul (Committee member) / Chemical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05