Research/Research Areas

Process and Reaction Systems Engineering

Ierapetritou, Constantinides, Klein, Wang

The department has a comprehensive program in reaction and process systems engineering.
The increasing pressure to reduce environmental impact, while maintaining or improving cost-effectiveness has motivated the chemical, pharmaceutical and energy industries to develop new and more efficient chemical processes and reactor configurations. Research in this area focuses on the following two areas: (1) Often kinetic and reactivity data are not known or difficult to determine due to the enormous complexity of the feedstock composition and the reaction pathways. (2) Complex geometries of the reactors, and a strong coupling of mass and heat transfer with the hydrodynamics and the reactions require highly sophisticated simulation and experimental tools.

In process systems engineering research focuses on the development of computer aided tools for addressing design and operations issues arising at various stages of product and process design and process operations by developing and analyzing efficient models and solution methodologies.