Current Research

The following is a list of the current research topics being pursued by faculty and researchers in Chemical Engineering. Detailed information about the faculty and recent publications can be found in the Faculty Directory and on the personal webpages of the individual faculty members.

W. Robert Ashurst (Website)

  • Micro- and nano-electromechanical systems design, fabrication and reliability
  • Micro- and nano-tribology
  • Molecularly thin film synthesis and design
  • Novel thin film processing
  • Surface science
  • Semiconductor materials processing

Mark Byrne (Website)

  • Polymeric Materials and Dynamics
  • Therapeutic and Diagnostic Biomedical Devices
  • Biomimetic, Bioinspired, and Biohybrid Materials
  • Recognitive Networks and Sensors
  • Bionanotechnology
  • Drug Delivery

Robert Chambers (Website)

  • Environmental Biotechnology
  • Bioresource Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology

Harry Cullinan (Website)

  • Multicomponent diffusion & mass transfer
  • Irreversible and multicomponent thermodynamics
  • Coupled transport processes
  • Active transport
  • Brownstock washing
  • Stock refining
  • Recycled fiber

Steve Duke (Website)

  • Environmental and Industrial Separations
  • Air-Water Gas Exchange
  • Paper Recycling and Deinking Processes
  • Optical Methods and Image Processing
  • Advanced Technology Education

Mario Eden (Website)

  • Computer Aided Process Engineering
  • Process Integration and Optimization
  • Process and Product Design
  • Sustainable and Environmentally Benign Technologies

Ram Gupta (Website)

  • Nanotechnology and supercritical fluids for pharmaceutical, photonics, materials, catalysis, and cosmetics applications.

Gopal Krishnagopalan (Website)

  • Paper Recycling: Deinking old newsprint containing substantial quantities of flexo printed news. Use of ultrafiltration for water clarification in wash deinking and for stickies removal.
  • Kraft Pulping: Kraft process liquor component measurement for pulping and causticizing control applications. Process model development using in-situ liquor analysis.
  • Alternative Raw Materials: Studies to evaluate fast growing fiber sources as substitute for hardwood fibers in fine papers.

Yoon Lee (Website)

  • Bioprocessing of lignocellulosic materials for production of fuels and chemicals
  • Physico-chemical properties of biomass
  • Bioreactor development
  • Enzyme and microbial process technology
  • Pretreatment/delignification of biomass for enzymatic saccharification and SSF
  • High temperature-low acid processing for total hydrolysis of biomass
  • Transport properties of acid catalyst in biomass
  • Ammonia recycle percolation (ARP) process for biomass pretreatment

Glennon Maples (Website)

  • Design of phase-cooling systems for power plants
  • Design of woodburning equiptment
  • Reducing pollution from combustion systems
  • Development of methods to reduce energy consumption

Ronald Neuman (Website)

  • Interfacial phenomena and surface/colloid science
  • Research activities range from fundamental and applied studies of interfacial phenomena at liquid/vapor, liquid/liquid and solid/liquid interfaces, surface characterization of pharmaceutical and bio-relevant particles, fibers and solid surfaces, surfactant aggregation in aqueous and nonpolar media, liquid-liquid (heavy metal ion) extraction, polymer adsorption, cleanup of oil spills, stability of solids-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions, fundamentals and applications of supersaturated oxygen technology, adhesion and surface/atomic force microscopy.
  • Troubleshooting surface chemistry related-problems in industrial manufacturing processes
  • Molecular modeling and simulation of interfacial systems and processes

Timothy Placek (Website)

  • Process Engineering: Expertise in chemical, environmental, pulp and paper, and energy industries. Industrial experience in carbon products, electrolytic processes, desalination technology. Directed projects in the areas of phase and sedimentation behavior, cellulosic biomass utilization, fermentation of wood hydrolyzates, solvent extraction technology, gas scrubber performance, air quality modeling, black liquor evaporator performance, secondary and tertiary water purification, recycled solvent quality
  • Process Modeling and Simulation: Developed models and performed simulation studies in the following areas: (1) area impact model for the distribution of new pollutant sources, (2) analysis of particulate removal during the scrubbing of hot flu gases, (3) bacterial growth in continuous systems, (4) Kamyr pulp digester model, (5) generalized multiple effect evaporator simulator, (6) sedimentation and compression behavior of sludges, (7) ethanol recovery technology using solvent recovery. Has also technically reviewed and debugged (refitted) existing computer simulation programs. Most notably, developed an advanced process simulator for the pulp and paper industry
  • Statistic Applications and Process Quality Control: Familiarity with statistical measures, data acquisition, process quality control

Christopher Roberts (Website)

  • Supercritical fluid (SCF) technologies
  • Nano-materials synthesis and processing in SCFs
  • Heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions in SCFs
  • Microemulsions in SCFs
  • Molecular thermodynamics
  • High pressure

Bruce Tatarchuk (Website)

  • Surface science of solids and surface spectroscopic/analytical techniques
  • Characterization of buried-interfaces and tribology including electrotribological interfaces
  • Heterogeneous reactive systems: catalysts & catalysis; electrochemical systems & electrode materials; sorption and sorbent materials; battery, fuel cell and device electrodes; hybrid electrical and electrochemical power systems; on-demand fuel reforming/processing for fuel cell applications
  • Microfibrous materials (invented by Dr. Tatarchuk and his students) including: (i) manufacturing methods, (ii) characterization, and (iii) applications to heterogeneous catalysis, sorption, electrochemistry & electrochemical processing, filtration, biological growth, and thermal control materials
  • Technology Transfer: IP generation, patent disclosures, licensing agreements, focused fundamental R&D, joint development of demonstration programs.