Current work
My research activities include examination of fundamental aspects of multiphase flows and applications to processes that involve contacting and reactions with ionic liquids. Another topic of interest is physiological fluid dynamics and transport processes. I also have a nascent interest in signal analysis with biomedical applications.
Carbon dioxide “capture” from flue gases using reactive ionic liquid microcapsules
Development of an efficient process to remove carbon dioxide from a gaseous mixture is severely constrained in that a major cost of the process is the total mass or mass flow rate of the absorbing component. This can be reduced by employing a reversible chemical reaction that provides a high ratio of mass of CO2 absorbed per mass of absorbing material. However, a limitation of this strategy is that as the capacity is increased, heat from the (necessarily) exothermic reaction (> 50 kJ/mole) must either be carried by the absorbing solvent (e.g., a reactive amine with excess water) or heat must be directly removed from the ab/adsorber. Consequently, current processes have have energy penalties well above the fundamental thermodynamic limit associated with extracting carbon dioxide from a gas mixture and providing it at high purity and a pressure necessary for transport and injection for underground storage.
Our work addresses these parasitic energy losses by using a class of reactive ionic liquids invented at Notre Dame by Professor Brennecke and co-workers. We are collaborating with researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, who have developed a microfluidic co-extrusion process to manufacture “capsules” consisting of the reactive ionic liquids encapsulated in a polymer shell. These capsules, with nominal sizes of 300-600 microns, should be amenable to fluidization which eliminates problems of the high viscosity of the ionic liquids when they are used in a traditional gas-liquid flow absorber.
We are examining the fluidization of these capsules to determine the feasibility of this flow arrangement, (i.e., to verify that the capsules don’t stick together have good structural integrity when subjected to the collisions that occur with fluidization) and the useful flow ranges of fluidization. Mass transfer rates will also be measured to determine the ratio of internal to external resistance and the overall effectiveness of the process. Studies will also address capsule regeneration using both packed and fluidized bed configurations.
Molecular simulation of polymer membranes for protein separation.
Through collaborations with Professor Maginn’s group, we are using various molecular simulation methods to resolve fundamental aspects of protein separation. For the case of a model peptide, we are determining how changes in hydrophrobicity of the walls of the pores, will affect the energtics of transport throught the membrane. The goal is to provide insights for synthesis of better separation membranes.
Undergraduate research projects (2016-17)
Earlier work:
Here is a link:
One movie on pulsing flow in a packed bed is here.
Commercialization
I have had recent past associations with Cocoon Biotech, a company that is commercializing artificial silk particles for biomedical application.