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As a result of the staggering environmental problems associated with
manufacturing facilities, the process industry has gradually shifted
from downstream “end-of-pipe” pollution control to the more
effective practice of in-plant pollution prevention. Our research focuses
on the development of effective design procedures that prevent pollution
while enhancing the economic performance of the process. Process synthesis
and integration techniques are used develop systematic and generally
applicable approaches, which transcend the specific circumstances of
the process and view the environmental problem from a holistic perspective.
The result is the development of cost-effective and sustainable pollution-prevention
strategies at the heart of the process.
Pollution prevention research also includes the synthesis of environmentally
friendly organic compounds. Projects relate to solvent replacement in
organic synthesis and separation processes. Current focus is on use of
supercritical fluid solvents in organic reactions such hydroformylation,
Diels-Alder reaction, enantioselective synthesis and metathesis reactions.
Of special interest is modification of proven homogeneous catalysts for
dissolution in supercritical fluid solvents. In the separations area
the research focus is on adsorptive separations. Applications include
synthesis of controlled release drug systems using supercritical fluid
solvents and separation of chiral isomers from racemic mixtures.
The research on environmental remediation is on physical/chemical separation
techniques, catalytic and advanced oxidation, and bioremediation, with
focus on wastewater cleanup technologies and soil/sediment remediation
techniques. Projects relate to ion exchange, synthesis of new ion exchange
materials, supercritical extraction for organics removal from aqueous
and solid media, soil vapor extraction fundamentals for in-situ soil
remediation, advanced and catalytic oxidation of aqueous waste, and bioremediation
of selected hard-to-degrade contaminants in pure or mixed culture.
In a broader sense, we also investigate the impact of industrial products
and processes on biocomplexity in the environment. Our research in this
area focuses on two major topics:
- Ecological modeling of water sheds and development of integrated strategies
for sustainable development.
- Global analysis and mitigation of green house gases
- Assessment and optimization of the use of agricultural sources (e.g.,
switchgrass) in producing biofuels/bioenergy and in biorefineries
