| Chemical Engineering Technology Services
 The UIC Department of Chemical Engineering offers outstanding, well-balanced consulting and development services. We have recognized expertise in the disciplines of: dynamics of complex fluids; catalysis; combustion and gas-phase kinetics; and process design/development and optimization. These areas are supported by world-class laboratory facilities, instrumentation and a cohesively integrated, multiscale palette of computer simulation techniques. They cover ab-initio quantum chemistry, molecular dynamics (MD), mesoscale modeling techniques such as Brownian dynamics (BD) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), continuum fluid mechanics and heat/mass transfer, and plant-scale process simulation. Our consulting represents a high-impact, cost-effective leverage of UIC resources and expertise for corporate/industrial clients seeking research and development services.
The chemical engineering department has the capability and resources to provide industry support in the following interdisciplinary areas.
Membrane Separations Modeling
Microporous and nanoporous membranes act as molecular and ionic sieves for a broad palette of chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical separations. Our modeling and design expertise in chemical engineering ranges from MD of ionic rejection and gas separations, to continuum flow and mass transfer inside membrane modules, to the analysis and optimization of plant-scale flowsheets. Our expertise also covers both ordered molecular sieves (e.g., zeolites) and disordered nano/microstructure (e.g., polysulfone asymmetric membranes).
Faculty experts:
Sohail Murad, PhD,Department Head and Professor
Ludwig C. Nitsche, PhD, Associate Professor
Lewis E. Wedgewood , PhD, Associate Professor
Specific Expert Services
- Desalination Technology
- Strategies to Mitigate Concentration Polarization
- Gas Separations
- Ion Exchange
- Pervaporation
Applicable Software
- Advanced, grid-free MD, BD and SPH simulation software (developed in-house)
- State-of-the-art process simulation software
- Advanced design and optimization techniques
 top
Catalyst Preparation and Optimization and Gas-Phase Kinetics
 A novel approach to catalysis has turned an industrial art into a systematic methodology for controlling surface chemistry nanostructure for optimal chemical activity. Advanced characterization and preparation techniques are combined in our work with ab initio quantum chemistry simulations to minimize laboratory development time of new heterogeneous catalysts. Gas-phase kinetics are studied in a world-class shock laboratory, directed by the inventor of the laser-schlieren technique.
Faculty experts:
John Regalbuto, PhD, Professor
Randall J. Meyer, PhD, Assistant Professor
Specific Expert Services
- Catalyst characterization
- Synthesis of novel catalysts
- Chemical kinetics at high temperatures
- Computational catalysis / cluster catalysis
- Catalyst testing
Labs & Special Equipment
- Electron microscope
- X-ray photo electron spectrometer
- X-ray diffraction
- Physi- and chemi-sorption
- Shock tube with laser-schlieren diagnostics
top
Process Design and Development
|
Our methodology emphasizes the combination of detailed unit-operations modeling with plant simulations and economic analysis for designing and optimizing sustainable and environmentally benign processes. The applications range from traditional chemicals, to biochemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Faculty experts:
Sohail Murad, PhD, Department Head and Professor
Ludwig C. Nitsche, PhD, Associate Professor
Specific Expert Services
- Process Simulation
- Process Optimization
- Parametric Sensitivity Analysis
- Economic Analysis
Applicable Software
- State-of-the-art process simulation software
- Advanced design and optimization techniques
|
top
Transport and Thermodynamic Behavior of Complex Fluid
 Our multiscale modeling and simulation expertise empowers design, modeling, optimization and data analysis for engineered fluids (e.g., dilute polymer solutions, entangled polymer melts, electro- and magneto-rheology); biomedicalsystems (e.g., blood flow and mechanisms of atherosclerosis, artificialorgans); electrolyte solutions; and microfluidic lab-on-chip systems. Reliable estimates of thermophysical properties and transport coefficients (especially useful for extreme conditions) are based upon first-principles molecular modeling and corresponding states correlations.
Faculty experts:
Sohail Murad, PhD, Department Head and Professor
Ludwig C. Nitsche, PhD, Associate Professor
Lewis E. Wedgewood, PhD, Associate Professor
Raffi M. Turian, PhD, Professor
Specific Expert Services
- Thermophysical property estimation
- Material property characterization
- Measurement of flow kinematics
- Computational modeling of flow and heat/mass transfer
Labs & Special Equipment
- Laser-doppler velocimetry system
- Anton Paar DSR 4000 cone-plate rheometer
Applicable Software
- Molecular dynamics simulations
- Brownian dynamics simulations
- Grid-free smoothed particle hydrodynamics codes
- Monte-Carlo techniques
- Corresponding states theory
top
CONTACT INFO
Sue Fullman
UIC Engineering Corporate Relations Office
Telephone: 312-996-5843
Email: sfullman@uic.edu
|
