Areas of Research: Environmental Engineering
Research on ways to improve the environment covers a wide range of technologies and approaches. Faculty involved in environmental engineering include participants in the Institute for Applied Surfactant Research, the Institute for Gas Utilization Technologies, and Bioengineering Research Institute.
- surfactant-based separation processes to treat waste water, including micellar enhanced ultrafiltration and admicellar chromatography
- restoration of solvent/fuel contaminated aquifers using surfactants
- development of environmentally friendly transportation fuels and chemical feedstocks, with current emphasis on storage technologies for natural gas
- paper and plastic deinking for recycling using surfactants
- soil remediation by flushing with surfactants
- development of new detergents that are benign to the environment and more effective in cold water
- development of new heterogeneous catalytic processes for the abatement of gaseous pollutants such as CO and NOx
- application of biotechnology to the remediation of contaminated water and soil
- wastewater recycle, reuse, and regeneration: zero discharge cycles
- air pollution prevention in refinery designs
- advanced oxidation for air and water purification
- ultrafiltration and semi-equilibrium dialysis equipment
- two high-performance liquid chromatographs
- ion chromatograph
- several gas chromatographs
- atomic absorption spectrophotometer
- UV-visible spectrophotometer
- IR spectrophotometer
- two mass spectrometers
- two ion analyzers
- automated titration system
- ring tensiometer
- Wilhelmy plate tensiometer
- bubble-pressure tensiometer
- catalytic reactor systems
- adsorptive storage apparatus
- BET adsorption instrument
- Berty gradientless reactor
- FTIR with accessories
- liquid and gel permeation chromatographs
- fermentation bioreactor
- autoclave
- biological safety hood
- equipment for breaking cell membranes by sonication
- high speed centrifuge
