Richard P. Swatloski of Enterprise, Ala., who is working on his doctorate in chemistry at UA’s Center for Green Manufacturing, has been awarded the 2003 Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Student Award in Green Chemistry.
As a result of his research, Swatloski was also selected to attend the 53rd meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany. The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science sponsored 18 graduate students from across the country to attend the prestigious scientific meeting. “It was an unbelievable opportunity and I’m honored to have been chosen,” Swatloski said.
The award is for his discovery of a new solvent system to dissolve cellulose.
“Our goal is to develop greener, more environmentally friendly ways of doing things,” Swatloski said. “The use of cellulose-based materials is appealing from an environmental point of view as traditional solvents have significant processing limitations, as well as environmental consequences.
“We have shown that some new, potentially environmentally friendly solvents, ionic liquids, can act as solvents for cellulose,” Swatloski said. “The cellulose dissolves like sugar in a glass of iced tea. This can make the process cleaner and more efficient, along with a reduction or elimination of environmentally undesirable by-products.”