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Research
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Accounting for transport rates and chemical kinetics forms the basis for design of chemical reactors. In our research we attempt to determine the significance of, and interaction between, such physical and chemical processes for various types of catalytic reactors. These objectives lead to experimental studies of rate parameters by dynamic and steady-state methods in slurry, trickle bed, single pellet, and fixed bed laboratory reactors. The usual course of the research involves interpretation of the laboratory data in terms of a reactor model for the intraparticle (catalyst), interphase, and intrareactor processes, followed by design procedures for large-scale reactors
Recent probems involve supercritical extraction of hydrocarbons from coal and modeling of chemical vapor infiltration of substrates of woven carbon fibers to produce light-weight, temperature- and corrosion-resistant composite materials. Such applications are particuarly challenging because they include numerous transport and chemical reaction steps in a multiphase environment. |
Laboratories
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| Laboratory has two separate pieces of apparatus for supercritical fluid processing. A continuous-flow supercritical extraction and desorption reactor with a high-pressure flame-ionization detector for carbon dioxide solvent is the principal instrument for the CO2 extractions. Also available is a continuous-flow supercritical extraction reactor system with electrical furnace, pressure and temperature controllers, and high-pressure nitrogen drive for liquid solvents (such as toluene and butanol) that are monitored by a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 4B UV/vis spectrophotometer with flow-through absorption cuvette. Numerous instruments are available for experiments on chemical pollutant transport. The following instruments are also present in our laboratories: Beckman Model 930 helium or air comparison pycnometer for measuring porosity of granular porous materials, American Instrument Company 60,000 psi Mercury Porosimeter for measuring pore-volume distribution as a function of pore diameter (to 30 Å) in solids and powders, Perkin-Elmer 8500 Gas Chromatograph with numerous packed and capillary columns, Hewlett-Packard HPLC with GPC columns for molecular-weight distributions. |
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