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[edit] The Properties of Biological Materials

This project is intended as engineer's handbook compiling data on the physical and chemical properties of biological materials. It will potentially include any property of these materials that could be relevant to engineering design.

[edit] Join in!

Want to join in this effort? Just do it, no permission needed. If you are not familiar with the way Wikis work, the best place to learn is Wikipedia. The project was initiated by a technical committee of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, but we welcome all interested parties to join in. Want to contact the coordinator? E-mail ike9898@yahoo.com .

[edit] Start a new article on your favorite material

To start a new article, enter the page title in the box below. It's best not to capitilize any words, unless it is a proper name.

[edit] Model entry

Have a look at this article to get an idea of the type of entries we are shooting for. At this point, high quality, well referenced infomation is much more important than format. Don't get too hung up on creating tables and making everything look pretty.

[edit] Update

6/25/08 This wiki is not dead (yet)! I'm attending a meeting next week at which there may be many people interested in participating in this project. ike9898 21:23, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Inclusion criteria

[edit] Materials

This project will cover biological materials that meet these criteria:

• Non-'fossil', i.e. not coal, petroleum, ect.
• Available in macro amounts; an emphasis on materials available by the ton.
• Commercially or enviromentally significant.
• Not a viable organism.
• Not a finished product, i.e. only materials that might be subject to further processing.

Some examples of materials within the scope of this project: · Alfalfa seed screenings · Anchovy meal · Apple pommace · Babassu meal · Bakery waste · Barley straw · Canola meal · Citrus pulp · Cotton gin trash · Cottonseed meal · Cottonseed hulls · Dried distiller's grain · Dried distiller's grain with solubles · Landscaping waste · Linseed meal · Maiden Grass · Maize · Manure · Meat and bone meal · Miscanthus · Peat · Plate waste · Rice hulls · Safflower meal · Silage · Soybeans, Soy flakes, Soy flour, soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, soybean hulls · Stover · Sugarcane bagasse · Sunflower seed meal · Switchgrass · Whey · Whole cottonseed · Flash-dried blood meal · Poulty byproduct meal · Hydrolyzed feather meal · Menhaden fish meal · Blended tuna meal · Prime tallow · Yellow grease · Choice white grease · Bleachable fancy tallow · Poultry grease · Corn gluten meal · corn steep liquor · Hominy feed · Brewers dried grains · Malt sprouts · Brewers yeast · Wheat bran · Wheat middlings · Wheat millrun · Wheat shorts · Dried skim milk · Dried buttermilk · Whole whey · Whey protein concentrate · Lactose · Rolled oats · Crimped oats · pulverized oats · Rice bran · Rice millfeeds · Beet pulp shreds · Milo · Cane molasses · Almond hulls · Coconut coir · Recycled newspaper fiber · pineapple leaf fiber · henequen · jute · hemp fiber · flax fiber · flax shives · Rice polishings · Peanut hulls · Peanut skins · Soybean silage

[edit] Properties

Any property relevant to process design. Economic data is not emphasized, but can be included to the extent that it gives the engineer 'ballpark' values to work with.

Specific properties of interest include:

• Particle size distribution
• Porosity
• Bulk density
• Particle solid density
• Tensile strength
• Shear strength
• Young's modulus
• Specific cutting energy
• Specific shearing energy
• Specific processing (other processes, eg. grinding) energy
• Color
• Particle morphology characteristics assessment
• Particle size assessment models
• Energy content (caloric value, higher heating value, etc.)
• Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5) and COD
• Volatile solids or organic matter content
• Nutrient concentrations (N,P,K, etc.)
• Other important elements C, trace minerals, heavy metals)
• Fiber content (cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin)
• Other chemical constitutents (lipids, proteins, etc.)

(please add to this list)

[edit] Data

There is a strong preference for infomation that can be independenly verified by reference to the standard scientific literature. Data from other sources, such as unpublished laboratory results, are acceptable especially in cases when it is the only avaible data on the particular property.

[edit] Not

This project should not be a home for articles of the type that could be a part of Wikipedia. The host of this project, Wikia, specifies that projects should not overlap Wikipedia coverage.

[edit] Similar projects

• BIOBIB - plant materials; mostly calorific value, elemental analysis and ash analysis. No references newer than 1997.
• CSIRO Biofuel database - similar, but limited to properties relevant to fuel use
• NEL Physical Properties of Food Database - subscription only
• Phyllis- fuel properties and biochemical composition. Data from both scientific literature and industrial labs.
• US DOE Biomass Feedstock Composition and Property Database - similar but limited to plant materials and properties relevant to fuel use. Data produced in DOE laboratories. Inactive.

[edit] Distiguishing features of this project

• Implemented as a wiki - easy to contribute, update
• Broader scope both in terms of the types of material and the properties of interest
• No extra emphasis on fuel or food applications
• May be able to aggregate data from previous database projects