​​​​​Research Team​​​​

​​Algal Culti​​​​vation ​Biological Conversion ​of ​​Organic Waste
​Process
Modeling
​Biomass Conversion ​and Characterization​
Photo of Kevin FerisPhoto of Erik CoatsPhoto of Donna Post Guillen
Photo of Armando McDonald

​Kevin Feris, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Boise State University
Boise, Idaho
(208) 426-5498
kevinferis@boisestate.edu

​Er​i​k ​Coats, ​Ph.D., P.E​.
Associate Professor of Civil Engineering
University of Idaho 
Moscow, Idaho 83844
(208) 885-7559
ecoats@uidaho.edu

D​​onna Post Guillen, Ph.D., P.E.
Distinguished Research Engineer
Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho Falls, Idaho
(208) 526-1744
Donna.Guillen@inl.gov

Armando McDonald, Ph.D.
Professor of Renewable Materials
University of Idaho
Moscow, Idaho 83844
(208) 885-9454
armandm@uidaho.e​du

 

Poster Presentations
 

Fe​​ris, K., Coats, E.R., Guillen, D.P., and McDonald, A.G., Enhancing Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Economic Viability of Anaerobic Digestion Systems: Optimizing Fermentation, PHA and AD reactors, and Enhancing Biomass Recovery for Commodity Production, USDA Project Directors Meeting, Washington, DC, January 2015.MIS-15-34816-poster1.pdf

Feris, K.​​, Coats, E.R., Guillen, D.P., and McDonald, A.G., Enhancing Greenhouse Gas Mitigation and Economic Viability of Anaerobic Digestion Systems: Optimizing Algal Biomass and Carbohydrate Production, System integration, Economic Modeling, and Education and Outreach, USDA Project Directors Meeting, Washington, DC, January 2015.​ MIS-15-34816-poster2.pdf


​​ R​elevant Peer-Reviewed Team Publications

Al-Najjar, M., Coats, E.R., and Loge, F. (2011). The role of the microbial stringent response in excess intracellular accumulation of phosphorous in mixed consortia fed synthetic wastewater, Water Research 45, 5038-5046.

Alhamlan, F., Ederer, M., Brown, C., Coats, E.R., and Crawford, R. (2013). Metagenomics-based analysis of viral communities in dairy lagoon wastewater, Journal of Microbiological Methods 92(2), 183-188.

Chakraborty, M., McDonald, A.G., Nindo, C., and Chen, S. (2013). An α-glucan isolated as a co-product of biofuel by hydrothermal liquefaction of Chlorella sorokiniana biomass, Algal Research 2, 230-236.

Coats E.R., Gregg, M., and Crawford, R. (2011). Effect of organic loading and retention time on dairy manure fermentation, Bioresource Technology 102(3), 2572-2577.

Coats E.R., Ibrahim I., Briones A. and Brinkman C.K. (2012). Methane production on thickened, pre-fermented manure, Bioresource Technology 107, 205-212.

Coats E.R., Loge, F., Smith, W., Thompson, D., and Wolcott, M. (2007). Functional stability of a mixed microbial consortium producing PHA from waste carbon sources, Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology 136-140, 909-925.

Coats E.R., Loge, F., Wolcott, M., Englund, K., and McDonald, A. (2007). Synthesis of Polyhydroxyalkanoates in Municipal Wastewater Treatment, Water Environment Research, 2396-2403.

Coats E.R., Loge, F., Wolcott, M., Englund, K., and McDonald, A. (2007). Production of natural fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites through the use of polyhydroxybutyrate-rich biomass. Bioresource Technology 99(7), 2680-2686.

Coats E.R., Mockos, A., and Loge, F. (2011). Post-anoxic denitrification driven by PHA and glycogen within enhanced biological phosphorus removal, Bioresource Technology 102(2), 1019-1027.

Coats E.R., Searcy, E., Feris, K., Shrestha, D., McDonald, A.G., Briones, A., Magnuson, T., and Prior, M. (2013). An integrated two-stage anaerobic digestion and biofuel production process to reduce life cycle GHG emissions from US dairies, Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining 7(4), 459-473.

Coats E.R., Watkins, D.L., Brinkman, C.K., and Loge, F.J. (2011). Effect of anaerobic HRT on biological phosphorus removal and the enrichment of phosphorus accumulating organisms, Water Environment Research 83(5) 461-469.

Dai, J., Gliniewicz, K., Settles, M., Coats, E.R., and McDonald, A. (2015). Influence of organic loading rate and solid retention time on polyhydroxybutyrate production from hybrid poplar hydrolysates using mixed microbial cultures, Bioresource Technology 175, 23-33.

Dai, J., and McDonald, A. (2014). Production of fermentable sugars and polyhydroxybutyrate from hybrid poplar: Response surface model optimization of a hot-water pretreatment and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis, Biomass and Bioenergy 71, 275-284.

Dobroth, Z., Hu, S., Coats, E.R., and McDonald, A. (2011). Polyhydroxybutyrate synthesis on biodiesel wastewater using mixed microbial consortia, Bioresource Technology 102(3), 3352-3359.

Guillen, D.P., Coats, E.R., McDonald, A., and Feris, K. (2018). An Eco-Friendly System for the Production of Value-Added Materials from Dairy Manure, JOM 70(10), 1946–1957.

Horgan, C., Coats, E.R., and Loge, F. (2010). Assessing the effects of solids residence time and volatile fatty acid augmentation on biological phosphorus removal using real wastewater, Water Environment Research 82(3), 216-226.

Hu, S., McDonald, A.G., and Coats, E. (2012). Characterization of polyhydroxybutyrate biosynthesized from crude glycerol waste using mixed microbial consortia. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 129(3), 1314-1321.

Johnson, R., Liaw, S., Garcia-Perez, M., Ha, S., Lin, S., McDonald, A.G., and Chen, S. (2009). Pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry studies to evaluate high-temperature aqueous pretreatment as a way to modify the composition of bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of wheat straw, Energy and Fuels 23, 6242-6252.

Liang, S., Han, Y., Wei, L., McDonald, A.G., (2015b) Production and characterization of bio-oil and bio-char from pyrolysis of potato peel wastes, Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery 5(3), 237-246.

Liu, H., Hall, P., Darby, J., Coats, E.R., Green, P., Thompson, D., and Loge, F. (2008). Production of polyhydroxyalkanoate during treatment of tomato cannery wastewater, Water Environment Research 80(4), 367-372.

Passero, M., Cragin, B., Hall, A., Staley, N., Coats, E.R., McDonald, A.G., and Feris, K. (2014). Ultraviolet radiation pre-treatment modifies dairy wastewater, improving its utility as a medium for algal cultivation, Algal Research 6, Part A, 98-110.

Passero, M., Cragin, B. Coats, E.R., McDonald, A.G., and Feris, K. (2015). Dairy wastewaters for Algae Cultivation, Polyhydroxyalkanote reactor effluent versus anaerobic digester effluent, Bioenergy Research, DOI 10.1007/sI2155-015-9619-9.

Stowe, E.J., Coats, E.R., and Brinkman, C.K. (2015)​. Dairy manure resource recovery utilizing two-stage anaerobic digestion – Implications of solids fractionation, Bioresource Technology 198,  237–245.

​​Wei, L., Guho, N.M., Coats, E.R., and McDonald, A.G. (2014). Characterization of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co−3-hydroxyvalerate) biosynthesized by mixed microbial consortia fed fermented dairy manure, Journal of Applied Polymer Science 131(11), 5516-5528​.

Wei, L, Liang, S., Coats, E.R., and McDonald, A.G. (2015). Hydrothermal treatment of residual bacterial biomass waste after polyhydroxyalkanoate isolation by hydrothermal treatment, Bioresource Technology 198, 739-745.

Wei, L, Liang, S., Guho, N.M., Hanson, A.J., Smith, M.W., Garcia-Perez, M., and McDonald, A.G. (2015). Production and characterization of bio-oil and biochar from the pyrolysis of residual bacterial biomass from a polyhydroxyalkanoate production process, Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 115.

Wendt, C., Ellis, C., Guillen, D.P., Feris, K., Coats, E.R., and McDonald, A.G. (2016). Reduction of GHG Emissions through the Conversion of Dairy Waste to Value-Added Materials and Products, 2016 TMS Annual Meeting, Nashville, TN, February 14-18, 2016​.