This area involves catalysis, reactor design and configuration, and determination of kinetics. New catalytic materials such as various clays, hydrous metal oxides, crystalline titanates, and molecular sieves are synthesized and characterized. New catalysts are developed for processes such as hydrotreating, Fischer Tropsch synthesis, partial oxidation of alkanes, hydrogenation and dehydrogenation reactions, methane oxidation and isobutylene synthesis.

Studies on multiphase reactors concentrate on understanding the fundamentals of trickle bed reactors, slurry reactors, and bubble columns through unique measurement techniques and on-line tracer response studies.

Reaction kinetics are determined for catalyst optimization and/or reactor design purposes employing well-characterized, fully automated laboratory reactors that use on-line data acquisition and analysis.