Research focused on renewable energies and thermochemical conversion of fuels, and collaboration on technical projects.

Lecturer for:CHE 165 - Senior Plant Design and LabCHE 218 - Advanced Chemical Engineering Kinetics (Graduate)CHE 297 - Special Topics: Air Pollution Control Engineering (Graduate)

Focused on a collaborative project between Umeå University, The University of Utah, and the SP Energy Technology Center in Piteå, Sweden to increase feasibility of continual biomass feed to pressurized entrained-flow reactors.

Aided in design, fabrication, and operation of a laboratory-scale entrained-flow reactor for use in fuel-ash behavior during pyrolysis, gasification, and combustion processes. Additional work included investigations of rapid heating of solid fuels and computational simulation of combustion and gasification kinetics.

Graduate studies focused on design, fabrication, and operation of a sampling system in high-pressure entrained-flow gasifiers and of a high-pressure wire-mesh reactor. Empirical and theoretical modeling of gasifiers was also performed in addition to tasks with high-pressure thermogravimetric analyzers and laminar entrained-flow reactors. Research was partially funded in collaboration with industrial partner Eastman Chemical Company.

Focal work comprised component fabrication and operation of a pilot-scale circulating fluidized bed as well as construction of a pilot-scale cement-preheater cyclone tower in collaboration with Portland Cement Association. Additional duties included installation and maintenance of instrumentation, electrical, and fluid systems.

Principal project incorporated the design and fabrication of solids tracer probes to determine residence time distributions for industrial-scale (100,000 lb/hr) circulating fluidized beds. Additional testing campaigns measured fluidization velocities and particle sphericities.