new hire

Houston-based waste-to-energy company grows team

Global Clean Energy has named two new executives to its team. Photo via Getty Images

A Houston-based developer of green technology projects is expanding its management team by partnering with an affiliate of C2 Industrial Group.

Global Clean Energy's joint venture aims to “build, develop and manage sustainable clean energy projects in various forms while reducing negative carbon emissions or footprints” according to a news release.

James Wiseman has been named as chief legal officer and Jacob Sacks has been named as CFO. They join the current management team of George Azimov, president, and Chris Boll, chief revenue officer and director. Together, the goal is to engage professionals from C2 Industrial Group to present and acquire business opportunities that align with the goals and values of Global Clean Energy.

“GCEI's mission and purpose could not be more critical in today's trying times,“ Wiseman says in a news release. “We must build sustainable businesses and industries. We must reduce the carbon footprint of business and industry. We must invest in green supply chains and emerging technologies. We need to think and act with clarity of purpose. That's what we intend to do as we look to acquire and build projects for GCEI that fulfill that mission.”

Wiseman recently served as principal and chief legal officer of C2 Industrial based in Joshua, Texas. He has over 25 years of experience buying, developing and operating real estate in New York and Texas with Cayuga Capital Management LLC. Sacks recently served as principal and CFO of C2 Industrial.

“We are pleased to be working with GCEI to combine and bring scale to companies that both have strong growth prospects and provide material benefits to the environment through their operations, in a prudent and financially responsible manner,” Sacks adds in the release.

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A View From HETI

A team led by M.A.S.R. Saadi and Muhammad Maksud Rahman has developed a biomaterial that they hope could be used for the “next disposable water bottle." Photo courtesy Rice University.

Collaborators from two Houston universities are leading the way in engineering a biomaterial into a scalable, multifunctional material that could potentially replace plastic.

The research was led by Muhammad Maksud Rahman, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Houston and an adjunct assistant professor of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. The team shared its findings in a study in the journal Nature Communications earlier this month. M.A.S.R. Saadi, a doctoral student in material science and nanoengineering at Rice, served as the first author.

The study introduced a biosynthesis technique that aligns bacterial cellulose fibers in real-time, which resulted in robust biopolymer sheets with “exceptional mechanical properties,” according to the researchers.

Biomaterials typically have weaker mechanical properties than their synthetic counterparts. However, the team was able to develop sheets of material with similar strengths to some metals and glasses. And still, the material was foldable and fully biodegradable.

To achieve this, the team developed a rotational bioreactor and utilized fluid motion to guide the bacteria fibers into a consistent alignment, rather than allowing them to align randomly, as they would in nature.

The process also allowed the team to easily integrate nanoscale additives—like graphene, carbon nanotubes and boron nitride—making the sheets stronger and improving the thermal properties.

“This dynamic biosynthesis approach enables the creation of stronger materials with greater functionality,” Saadi said in a release. “The method allows for the easy integration of various nanoscale additives directly into the bacterial cellulose, making it possible to customize material properties for specific applications.”

Ultimately, the scientists at UH and Rice hope this discovery could be used for the “next disposable water bottle,” which would be made by biodegradable biopolymers in bacterial cellulose, an abundant resource on Earth.

Additionally, the team sees applications for the materials in the packaging, breathable textiles, electronics, food and energy sectors.

“We envision these strong, multifunctional and eco-friendly bacterial cellulose sheets becoming ubiquitous, replacing plastics in various industries and helping mitigate environmental damage,” Rahman said the release.

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