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Dan Bottenus

Dan Bottenus

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
PO Box 999
Richland, WA 99352
(509) 375-6526

Biography

Danny Bottenus came to the PNNL in 2015 and joined the Hydrocarbon Processing Group as a postdoctoral research associate. Since that time he has been converted to full-time staff and has obtained a clearance. Dr. Bottenus has a broad background and experience in chemical engineering disciplines. He has a strong successful work history of utilizing his problem solving skills, leadership, his deductive and comprehensive reasoning, and his organizational skills. In addition, Dr. Bottenus has shown the ability to lead and to work cooperatively as part of a team, as well as independently. The past two years at PNNL, Dr. Bottenus has worked on a few vastly different projects, further refining his chemical engineering skills in regards to mass/heat transfer, fluid flow, distillation, PID control loops, and using computer-aided design software. He was able to familiarize himself with a number of new equipment such as thermocouples, resistance platinum temperature detectors, Swagelok and NPT fittings, pressure transmitters, DC power supplies, and mass flow controllers.

Previously, Dr. Bottenus spent time at Washington State University working on a diverse array of research projects and research collaborations to broaden his overall knowledge, experience, and expertise. These collaborations have strengthened his ability to move seamlessly between simultaneous research efforts and to derive links between current skills and new research fields. Along the way he has developed an understanding of many common laboratory techniques such as microfluidics, pH measurements, proper pipetting, chromatography, electrophoresis, 3D printing, photolithography, UV/Vis spectroscopy, microscopy, protein/antibody labeling, contactless conductivity detection, centrifugation, gel electrophoresis, western blots, mass spectrometry, CNC milling, voltammetry, Bradford assays, hot embossing, protein purification, protein expression, mass spectrometry, forster resonance energy transfer, dialysis, soldering, and cleanroom procedures.

As an undergraduate, Dr. Bottenus spent as much time as possible in the laboratory both learning from and providing valuable assistance to senior graduate students. As a result of his dedication in the laboratory, he was assigned his own project. This project resulted in the successful separation and detection of protein isoforms on an in-house built preparative isoelectric focusing apparatus at voltages as high as 20kV. He confirmed the separation by offloading the samples and performing both HPLC on a commercial BIOCAD unit and IEF-PAGE analysis. He then implemented a novel optical fiber detection system to quantify those protein isoforms in real-time on the same electrophoresis unit.

Dr. Bottenus began his graduate research in nanofluidics by studying pH changes that occur in nanochannels as a result of the electrical double layer having the potential to take up a significant portion of the channel. He used pH sensitive fluorescent dyes and spectrometry to measure these pH changes and validated the results with a numerical model. Due to funding issues, Dr. Bottenus switched to microfluidics and the detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI), a biomarker for myocardial infarction. Isotachophoresis was performed in a cascade microchannel to concentrate labeled cTnI so that it could be observed by fluorescence. The biomarker was concentrated two fold, by isotachophoresis and by the reduction in cross-sectional area of the microchannel. Dr. Bottenus additionally developed a 3D numerical model in COMSOL Multiphysics to confirm these experimental findings.

Research Interests

  • Microchannel Distillation
  • Microfluidics
  • Electrophoresis
  • Adsorption
  • Liquid Liquid Extraction
  • Numerical Modeling

Education and Credentials

  • Ph.D., Washington State University, Pullman, WA Chemical Engineering – GPA 3.98 Advisor: Dr. Cornelius F. Ivory Thesis: “Isoelectric focusing at the preparative scale and isotachophoresis at the analytical scale to concentrate and separate molecules of interest.”
  • NIH Protein Biotechnology Graduate Training Program, Washington State University, Pullman, WA Advisors: Dr. Raymond Reeves and Dr. Cornelius F. Ivory
  • B.S., Washington State University, Pullman, WA Chemical Engineering – GPA 3.94 Summa Cum Laude and Honors College Graduate

PNNL Publications

2023

  • Bottenus D.R., P.H. Humble, R.I. Burnett, W.W. Harper, T.G. Veldman, M.R. Powell, and J.A. Barclay, et al. 2023. "Additively Manufactured Cryogenic Microchannel Distillation Device for Air Separation." Journal of Advanced Manufacturing and Processing 5, no. 1:Art. No. e10139. PNNL-SA-170400. doi:10.1002/amp2.10139

2022

2020

  • Gauglitz P.A., C. Bottenus, M.R. Powell, C. Burns, G.K. Boeringa, T.G. Veldman, and D.R. Bottenus. 2020. Particle Size and Density Measurement. PNNL-29736. Richland, WA: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Particle Size and Density Measurement
  • Lackey H.E., D.R. Bottenus, M. Liezers, S.D. Shen, S.D. Branch, J.A. Katalenich, and A.M. Lines. 2020. "A versatile and low-cost chip-to-world interface: enabling ICP-MS characterization of isotachophoretically separated lanthanides on a microfluidic device." Analytica Chimica Acta 1137. PNNL-SA-151307. doi:10.1016/j.aca.2020.08.049

2019

  • Asmussen S.E., A.M. Lines, D.R. Bottenus, F.D. Heller, S.A. Bryan, C.H. Delegard, and C.A. Louie, et al. 2019. "In Situ Monitoring and Kinetic Analysis of the Extraction of Nitric Acid by Tributyl Phosphate in n-Dodecane using Raman Spectroscopy." Solvent Extraction and Ion Exchange 37, no. 2:157-172. PNNL-SA-128863. doi:10.1080/07366299.2019.1630071
  • Bottenus D.R., S.D. Branch, H.E. Lackey, C. Ivory, J.A. Katalenich, S.B. Clark, and A.M. Lines. 2019. "Design and optimization of a fused-silica microfluidic device for separation of trivalent lanthanides by isotachophoresis." Electrophoresis 40, no. 18-19:2531-2540. PNNL-SA-138400. doi:10.1002/elps.201900027

2018

  • Bottenus D.R., D.D. Caldwell, C.M. Fischer, P.H. Humble, M.D. Powell, R.B. Lucke, and W.E. TeGrotenhuis. 2018. "Process Intensification of Distillation using a Microwick Technology to Demonstrate Separation of Propane and Propylene." AIChE Journal 64, no. 10:3690-3699. PNNL-SA-132161. doi:10.1002/aic.16325
  • Nelson G.L., S.E. Asmussen, A.M. Lines, A.J. Casella, D.R. Bottenus, S.B. Clark, and S.A. Bryan. 2018. "Micro-Raman technology to interrogate two-phase extraction on a microfluidic device." Analytical Chemistry 90, no. 14:8345-8353. PNNL-SA-129484. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.7b04330

2017

  • Back H.O., D.R. Bottenus, C.K. Clayton, D.E. Stephenson, and W.E. TeGrotenhuis. 2017. "Xe-136 enrichment through cryogenic distillation." Journal of Instrumentation 12, no. 9:Article No. P09033. PNNL-SA-124677. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/12/09/P09033

Energy and Environment

Core Research Areas

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