Member Profile
Mercy Badu
Country of origin: Ghana Currently in: Ghana, Kumasi General field of specialization: Chemical SciencesEarly Career Fellowship
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Degrees
2015 Doctorate Chemical Sciences -
Current Research Activities
Chemical Sciences
Mercy’s current research is in the area of lipid chemistry; the focus is to "harness underutilized non-traditional oilseeds for their utilization in food and other industrial products”. Her research uses Chromatographic, Spectroscopic and Spectrophotometric methods to elucidate and characterize the nutritional composition, micronutrients, anti-nutritional factor and medicinal properties of the oilseeds. She is investigating the functional properties, thermal behavior and the crystallization kinetics of vegetable oils and fats with their application in colloidal systems as an innovative material. She investigates the interfacial properties and chemistry of colloidal systems for their development in creating innovative green materials with enhanced performance
Publications resulting from Research:
Badu, M.,Awudza, A. M. J., Budd, P., Yeates, S. (2018). Determination of the physical properties and characterization kinetics of oils from Allanblackia seeds and she aunts un-der different thermal conditions, European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology, 120 (1700156) 1 – 9
Badu, M., Awudza A. M. J. (2016). Determination of the triacylglycerol content for the identification and assessment of purity of shea butter Fat, peanut oil and palm kernel oil using Maldi-Tof/Tof mass spectroscopic technique, International Journal of Food Prop-erties, 20(2) 271-280
Badu, M., Boateng, W. I., and Boadi, N.O. (2014). Evaluation of adsorption of textile dyes by wood sawdust. Research Journal of Physical and Applied Sciences, 3(1) 006-014
Badu, M., Wemegah, D.D., Boadi, N.O and Brown, F.A. (2013). Assessment of the nu-trient load and selected heavy metals in the Owabi reservoir and its feeder waters. Ameri-can Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research, 4(4) 337-343
Boadi, N.O., Okyere, H., Badu, M., and Mensah, J.K. (2013). Effects of mercury on the proximate composition of maize (Zea mays L.). Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology B. 3, 487-492
Badu, M., Mensah, J.K., and Boadi, N.O., (2012). Antioxidant Activity of Methanol and Ethanol/water extracts of Tetrapleura tetraptera and Parkia biglobosa. International Journal of Pharm and Bio Sciences. 3(3), 312-321
Boadi, N.O., Mensah, J.K., Twumasi, S., Badu, M. and Osei, I. (2012). Levels of select-ed heavy metals in canned tomato paste sold in Ghana. Food Additives and Contami-nants: Part B Surveillance, 1–5
Boadi, N.O., Twumasi, S.K., Badu, M. and Osei, I. (2011). Heavy metal contamination in canned fish marketed in Ghana. American Journal of Science and Industrial Research, 2(6): 877-882
Badu, M, Twumasi, S.K., Boadi N.O. (2011). Effects of Lignocellulosic in Wood Used as Substrate on the Quality and Yield of Mushrooms. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 2, 780-784
Nkansah M.A., Boadi N.O., and Badu, M. (2010). Assessment of the quality of water from hand-dug wells in Ghana. Environmental Health Insights 4:7-12
Current profession
Current professional activities type:ResearchTeachingI teach Basic Organic Chemistry, Functional Group Chemistry I, Functional Group Chemistry II, Organic Reaction Mechanism, Foundation Chemistry. In terms of research, my current study is in the area of lipid chemistry; the focus is to "harness underutilized non-traditional oilseeds for their utilization in food and other industrial products”. My research uses Chromatographic, Spectroscopic and Spectrophotometric methods to elucidate and characterize the nutritional composition, micronutrients, anti-nutritional factor and medicinal properties of the oilseeds. I am also investigating the functional properties, thermal behavior and the crystallization kinetics of vegetable oils and fats with their application in colloidal systems as an innovative material.
Workshop and Conference Attended
2017 Cape Town, South Africa 3rd International Conference on Global Food SecurityPresentation given
2017Evaluation of Nutritional and Medicinal Properties of Underutilized Oilseeds for their Potential to Promote Food Security in Western AfricaCape Town, South AfricaEvent: 3rd International Conference on Global Food Security -
TWAS Awards
May 2017AwardA TWAS research grant award amounting to USD 12,000.00 in support of my project entitled "Evaluation of the kinetics of the transesterification of selected underutilized non-edible seed oils using locally produced ethanol and calcium oxide catalyst".Other Awards
Sep 2013L'Oréal-UNESCO Regional Fellowship for women in science, in Sub-Saharan Africa.The L'Oréal-UNESCO award is a competitive award given to selected few women with potential to make great strides in the field of science. -
Fellowship with OWSD
Fellowship with OWSD
Fellowship awarded
Early Career Fellowship awarded 2019