The College of Forestry, Wildlife and Environment has world-class faculty, state-of-the-art labs, expansive field sites, and cutting-edge, knowledge-based technological resources.
Our students are provided the highest quality classroom instruction, hands-on learning experiences, and professional development opportunities to acquire discipline-specific knowledge and skills in preparation for a competitive job market and a diverse global workforce within business, industry, government, and non-profit sectors.
In this sense, our technological capacities are focused on the processes of biomass processing, polymers characterization, surfaces characterization, and more.
1. Biomass Processing
Our effort is focussed on the search for new applications in Biomass processing to reduce the impact on the environment and improve the quality of raw materials. (Filpponen, Peresin, & Nypelo, 2020)
Masuko Supermass Colloider
The Masuko Supermasscolloider allows the fibrillation of lignocellulosic materials, such as cellulose pulp, to generate nanocellulose fibrils suspensions that can then be used for multiple applications.
Wet Spinning
Wet spinning is used to produce rayon and lyocell, also acrylic, aramid, modacrylic and spandex can be produced by this process.
2. Polymer Characterization
We apply different techniques to improve the performance of materials by identifying resistance, impermeability, thermal stability, and more.
Thermo Scientific GENESYS 50 Spectrophotometer
A spectrophotometer measures light intensity as a function of wavelength. It is commonly used to measure the concentration of a compound in an aqueous solution.
Differential Scanning Calorimetry – DSC Q2000
Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) – technique for determining the quantity of heat that is either absorbed or released by a substance undergoing a physical or a chemical transition.
DSC measures the temperatures and heat flows associated with transitions in materials as a function of time and temperature in a controlled atmosphere.
Chemtrac Laboratory Charge Analyzer
This LCA allows the user to determine the ideal coagulant dosage needed to achieve optimum NTU and TOC reduction.
Rheometer
A rheometer allows measuring the way in which a liquid, mixture or suspension flows under the action of external forces. Used for fluids that cannot be defined with a single viscosity value.
Agilent HPLC/GPC system
High Performance Liquid Chromotography (HPLC) is a technique used to separate, identify, and quantify each component in a liquid mixture. Gel Permeation Chromotography (GPC) is used to determine the relative molecular weight of polymer samples as well as the distribution of molecular weights.
Anton Paar Litesizer 500 (DLS)
Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) is used to establish the size and size distribution profiles of particles in a solution.
3. Surface Characterization
We have the ability to collect, detect, and characterize the levels of various microorganisms to control the efficiency of disinfection routines in critical and non-critical manufacturing.
MP-SPR Navi 210A VASA
SPR machines are typically used to measure the binding kinetics and affinity of molecular interactions. For example, it may measure the binding between two proteins, etc.
QSense QCM-D
The QSense QCM-D monitors molecule-surface interactions as well as properties of the layer formed at the sensor surface in order to aid in characterization. It answers questions such as whether or not there is a molecule-surface interaction taking place.
Contact Angle – OCA 50 & OCA 50EC
The OCA 50 is the fully automatic measuring device for the time-saving analysis of the wettability of solid surfaces and the determination of the surface energy of solids.
Additional Equipment
Additionally, we are able to carry out complementary tests and analyses and more.
Deep Freezer
The deep freezer allows storing different products for long periods of time.
UV Ozone Cleaner
The UV-ozone-cleaning procedure is a highly effective method to remove a variety of contaminants from surfaces. It is a simple-to use dry process which is inexpensive to set up and operate. It can produce clean surfaces at room temperature, either in a room atmosphere or in a controlled atmosphere.
Freeze Dryer
Freeze dryers work by removing water from a perishable material. The low temperature process gives the material a longer shelf-life and results in a higher-quality product.
Sonicator Tip
The sonicator tip makes it possible to generate extremely high ultrasonic amplitudes at any scale of operation. Any process optimized can be directly scaled-up to a pilot or industrial production environment.
Spin Coater
Spin coating is a widely used process for fabricating thin, uniform films on planar substrates and is used for the coating of photoresists in the microelectronics industry and for magnetic storage disks.