Research Initiatives

SCBME faculty are involved in many aspects of energy and chemicals research from production to processing to consumer use. Some faculty are also participants in the Institute for Gas Utilization Technologies and the Poromechanics Institute located at the University.

• solid catalyzed and electric discharge-catalyzed methane conversion to oxygenates, higher hydrocarbons, or olefins
• heterogeneous catalysis for the aromatization of paraffins and the nitration of aromatics
• green-hydrogen production from electrochemical water splitting
• CO2 conversion to useful products
• single wall carbon nanotube-based fuel cell electrodes
• polymeric and hybrid membranes for gas separation, as well as ultra-, micro-, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis
• prediction of thermodynamic properties of working fluids for sorptive refrigeration systems and for natural gas sweetening
• high-density bulk or adsorptive storage of natural gas
• surfactants for cold detergency
• heat integration across plants
• improvement of plant energy efficiency through heat exchanger retrofit and simultaneous process optimization
• upgrade of raw natural gas by solvent-extraction of diluents
• phase behavior of inclusion gas in porous media
• non-Darcy flow through porous media
• well modeling for reservoir simulation
• control of turbulence production-dissipation
• turbulent reactive flow

• catalytic reactor systems
• electric field reactor
• x-ray photoelection spectrometer
• adsorptive storage apparatus
• BET adsorption instrument
• Berty gradientless reactor
• IBM Risc 6000 workstations
• photocatalytic reactor system

• gas chromatographs
• quadrupole mass spectrometers
• FTIR with accessories
• liquid and gel permeation chromatographs
• atomic absorption spectrometer

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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 wastewater, 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 a current emphasis on storage technologies for natural gas
• membranes for water purification
• paper and plastic drinking 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 reduction 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

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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.

• Fabrication and examination of high-performance microfibers made by the melt-blowing process
• Use of gel spinning to produce fibers that are 10 times as strong as steel: optimization of simultaneous heat, mass, and momentum transfer in this complex morphological problem
• Use of LDV (Laser Doppler Velocimetry) in the analysis of fiber-handling processes and the use of LDV in the on-line control of fiber-handling processes
• Study of polymers filled with carbon nanotubes
• Highly selective synthesis of single-wall carbon nanotubes
• Nanotube applications such as fuel cell electrodes, catalyst supports, field emission devices and others
• Determination of the structure and properties of polymers through synchrotron radiation. Techniques include scattering, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy
• Nanoscale chemical modification of surfaces to improve polymer-filler adhesion or electrical conductivity in polymer-matrix composites
• Nanoscale templating of ordered morphologies on flat surfaces using surfactants as templating media for polymerization
• Properties of miscible blends involving polymers with ionic groups
• synthesis of functional polymers
• diffusion in polymers
• correlations structure-transport properties

• custom melt blowing die heads with Brabender extruder and other
• peripheral equipment
• die test stands
• custom gel spinning equipment
• laser Doppler velocimeter
• differential scanning calorimeter
• tensile tester for polymer films and fibers
• stress controlled rotational steady and oscillating rheometers
• tensile oscillating rheometer
• capillary rheometer
• gel permeation chromatograph
• low-angle laser light scattering
• scanning and transmission electron microscopes
• optical microscopes
• wide and small-angle x-ray diffractometers
• custom emulsion polymerization equipment
• Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer
• AFM (Atomic Force Microscope)
• Killion Extruder with Film and Pelletizer Dies
• X-ray photoelectron spectrometer
• Batch mixer for polymer melts
• Ellipsometer
• dynamic light scattering

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