Research Facilities

ChE and CBE Research Equipment and Facilties

Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development

The State of South Dakota is recognized as a leader and major producer of ethanol from starch in the United States. Hence, the State of South Dakota is well positioned to play an important role in development of new bio-based technologies and value-added agricultural products. The new Ph.D. program is aligned with this recently established 2010 Center for Bioprocessing Research and Development (CBRD) at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and the South Dakota State University. The CBRD focus is to develop the fundamental understandings and technologies to convert lignocellulose (or biomass) to fuels and key building block chemicals. The research foci of the CBRD; pretreatment, conversion, extremophiles, separations, and process simulation and economic analysis, rely on the fundamental underpinnings of the Chemical and Biological Engineering graduate programs.

Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory

Biological research is on-going to seek to enrich and isolate lignocellulose degrading extremophiles from timber-rich regions within the Homestake Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). DUSEL is likely a genetic reservoir for both culturable and non-culturable extremophilic Bacteria and Archaea, many having potential bioprocessing and economic value. Pure cultures of such microorganisms may produce a variety of useful enzymes including cellulases, xylanases, glucanases, peroxidases, amylases, proteases, and lipases.

Black Hills Vision – Black Hills Technology Corridor

Black Hills Vision with the assistance of Battelle has identified the development of the Sustainable Systems Platform as a key economic thrust for the Black Hills region. Battelle’s initial project identified several avenues for future development in the broad area of Sustainability. One of these, “clean energy”, has evolved in the past year to the point where it warrants further consideration as a key element in the Black Hills Technology Corridor Vision. The recent developments at SDSM&T in biofuels and products based on lignocellulosic materials (wood) are exciting, and offer potential for new industry for the region.

Composite and Polymer Engineering Laboratory (CAPE)

“The Composites and Polymer Engineering Laboratory (CAPE) is a user facility that is open to all students and faculty. The 9000 square foot facility houses state-of-the-art equipment to conduct novel and cutting-edge research and development in rapid tooling and polymer and composite processing and prototyping. The suite of rapid tooling equipment include a CNC mill, a CNC lathe and finishing tools such as a drill press, saws and sanding facilities. The suite of polymer and composite processing equipment include an autoclave, two capillary rheometers, a composite fabric braider, a filament winder, a precision fabric cutting table, a materials testing instrument, two resin transfer molding systems, a single and a twin screw extruder, two vacuum bagging systems, and a walk-in oven. Combined these capabilities provide students and faculty an extensive set of tools, which to create the prototypes for the next generation of advanced composite structures.” See: http://sdmines.sdsmt.edu/CAPE.

Engineering and Mining Experiment Station (EMES)

A user facility that is open to all students and faculty. The EMES includes such sophisticated equipment as the campus scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM & STEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning probe microscope (SPM), analytical chemistry (AAS, and ICP-MS), and many others instruments. See: http://emes.sdsmt.edu/.

State-of-the art Analytical Instruments and Laboratories

The Department and University have a variety of state-of-the art analytical instruments and laboratories available for instruction and research (see table below). Chemical and Biological Engineering students have easy access to all of these.

Microscopy Laboratory
Scanning Electron Microscope with energy dispersive X-rayand image analyzer (SEM / EDX)
Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Interfacial Force Microscope (IFM, one of 1/2 dozen in the world)

Mechanical and Thermal Testing Laboratory
MTS Mechanical Tester
Setaram Microcalorimeter
Cincinnati Micron Injection Molding Machine
Process Design and System Analysis Computer Laboratory
IBM RISC / 6000 Workstations
AspenPlus (steady state process simulator)
AspenPlus Dynamics (dynamic simulator)
HYSYS Process (steady state and dynamic process simulator)
Personal Computer Laboratory (Fluent, finite element modeling)
HSC software
Process Control Laboratory
Camile 3000 Controller and Data Acquisition System
Analytical Laboratory
FT-IR spectrometer with microscope
FT-IR spectrometer with Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR)system
Laser-Raman spectrometer
HP 6890 gas chromatographs
others (UV-Vis spectrometer,AA, ICP, Ion chromatograph, GC-MS)
Reaction and Separation Engineering Laboratory
Combustion synthesis reactor
Centrifugal combustion synthesis reactor
SHS reactor
Supercritical extractor
Supercritical equilibrium, and variable volume view cell
Supercritical reactor