Sustainable Chemical Processes
Chemical processes have been a cornerstone of industrial revolution and societal progress. The development of sustainable chemical processes using green chemistry concepts can potentially minimize resource use and environmental impacts.
Biofuels and environmental engineering laboratories have been developed to support innovative sustainable chemical processes by using green solvents and restricting the use of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals. Our objectives are to develop new chemical and environmental processes and products using a system approach that results in zero waste, high energy efficiency, zero toxicity, and minimal impact over life cycle.
The current research focuses on
-
Application of sub- and supercritical water (hydrothermal) technology for the conversion of biomass/algae to advanced biofuels, biochar, hydrochar, and bioproducts.
-
Supercritical fluids (CO2 and water) based green and sustainable processes.
-
Environmental chemical engineering, environmental catalysis, wastewater, and nutrients management.
- Thermochemical conversion processes and high temperature/high pressure reactions.
Dr. Sandeep Kumar leads research in this area at ODU.
Biomass Research Laboratory Website click here for our brochure
Dr. Xiaoyu Zhang leads research into Hydrogen and Fuel Cells. Specific interests include:
High temperature electrolysis using solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs)
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) evaluation and characterization
Hydrogen production using photoelectrochemical cells
Triboelectric DC generator
Nuclear fuel rod cladding materials.
Photovoltaics
Dr. Sylvain Marsillac researches solar photovoltaic technology at ODU. His current research interests include studying new inorganic materials for renewable energy applications, developing innovative tools for in-situ and real-time analysis, and developing novel architectures and techniques for the fabrication of flexible and high efficiency solar cells.
Dr. Marsillac directs the Virginia Institute for Photovoltaics (VIPV).
Unconventional Energy Governance
Producing unconventional energies has a long history dating back to the 1940s but recent advances in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling have made these energies competitive in the global market.
Producing unconventional energies carries a variety of known and unknown environmental and societal risks; interdependency of energy markets, global economy, environmental policies, emerging technology/innovation management, societal concerns and most importantly unknown aspects of these types of new technologies have made decision making and policy design of unconventional energies a very complex area which requires research.
Dr. Adrian V. Gheorghe leads the energy interdisciplinary research, education program across the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering department. His research is focused on unconventional energy governance including:
- Unconventional energy systems risk analysis to meet associated environmental, economic and sociopolitical challenges.
- Unconventional energy critical infrastructure management.
- Energy technology innovation management and underlying policy analysis through system of systems engineering approach.
- Decision support system design to enable decision making in both industry and government sector.
Energy Conversion and Storage
Dr. Grayson Walker is interested in applied research and development relating to fuel cell, energy storage, hybrid fuel cell-battery systems, and waste heat recovery for improved systems efficiency such as the application of thermoelectric generators to control heat and provide additional system power. Currently work includes a collaboration with the US Navy Facilities Command in Norfolk developing curricula in energy and the use of waste heat to improve efficiency at US naval shore facilities.
Sustainable Transportation Strategies
Research on Sustainable Transportation Strategies is led by Dr. Mecit Cetin, through the Transportation Research Institute. The work is focused on developing innovative solutions to address congestion, safety, and environmental impacts of surface transportation systems. The research activities of the Institute include the following areas:
- Transportation operations
- Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Connected Vehicles
- Transportation safety
- Transportation planning
- Modeling freight systems
- Environment, energy, and sustainable transport
- Transport policies and tolling
Transportation Research Institute (TRI)
Nutrient Cycling in Bio-Energy Systems
Dr. Ben Stuart's current research project is assessing the potential of utilizing anaerobic digestion (AD) in the management of liquid and solid waste streams from houses and residential communities. Subsequent algal cultivation from the disinfected liquor from the AD process will provide opportunities for food/crop production, as well as serving as a feedstock for processing into other value-add products. The waste streams and cultivated biomass will also be processed into biofuels (e.g. biogas, bidiesel) that will significantly contribute to the energy requirements of the house/community, and co-products will be incorporated into recycle streams to improve overall process efficiencies and to meet additional resource demands (e.g. clean water, food production). Including water and waste management with the potential for food production and generation of biofuels will augment existing off-grid power technologies (e.g. solar PV, solar thermal, wind) that provide many homeowners with desired energy security, and will extend the sustainability and resource independence of residential communities. Results to date include food waste characterization (proximate and ultimate analysis), biochemical methane potentials, disinfection optimization of the AD liquor, algal strain selection, and optimization of algal growth as a function of the form of nitrogen delivered. These initial investigations have informed a materials and energy flows demand analysis assessing the potential for realistic implementation. Initial modeling of the AD processes has also identified critical control variables for optimized digester operations.
Sustainable Chemical Processes
Chemical processes have been a cornerstone of industrial revolution and societal progress. The development of sustainable chemical processes using green chemistry concepts can potentially minimize resource use and environmental impacts.
Biofuels and environmental engineering laboratories have been developed to support innovative sustainable chemical processes by using green solvents and restricting the use of highly toxic and corrosive chemicals. Our objectives are to develop new chemical and environmental processes and products using a system approach that results in zero waste, high energy efficiency, zero toxicity, and minimal impact over life cycle.
The current research focuses on
-
Application of sub- and supercritical water (hydrothermal) technology for the conversion of biomass/algae to advanced biofuels, biochar, hydrochar, and bioproducts.
-
Supercritical fluids (CO2 and water) based green and sustainable processes.
-
Environmental chemical engineering, environmental catalysis, wastewater, and nutrients management.
- Thermochemical conversion processes and high temperature/high pressure reactions.
Dr. Sandeep Kumar leads research in this area at ODU.
Biomass Research Laboratory Website click here for our brochure
Dr. Xiaoyu Zhang leads research into Hydrogen and Fuel Cells. Specific interests include:
High temperature electrolysis using solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs)
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) evaluation and characterization
Hydrogen production using photoelectrochemical cells
Triboelectric DC generator
Nuclear fuel rod cladding materials.
Photovoltaics
Dr. Sylvain Marsillac researches solar photovoltaic technology at ODU. His current research interests include studying new inorganic materials for renewable energy applications, developing innovative tools for in-situ and real-time analysis, and developing novel architectures and techniques for the fabrication of flexible and high efficiency solar cells.
Dr. Marsillac directs the Virginia Institute for Photovoltaics (VIPV).
Unconventional Energy Governance
Producing unconventional energies has a long history dating back to the 1940s but recent advances in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and horizontal drilling have made these energies competitive in the global market.
Producing unconventional energies carries a variety of known and unknown environmental and societal risks; interdependency of energy markets, global economy, environmental policies, emerging technology/innovation management, societal concerns and most importantly unknown aspects of these types of new technologies have made decision making and policy design of unconventional energies a very complex area which requires research.
Dr. Adrian V. Gheorghe leads the energy interdisciplinary research, education program across the Engineering Management and Systems Engineering department. His research is focused on unconventional energy governance including:
- Unconventional energy systems risk analysis to meet associated environmental, economic and sociopolitical challenges.
- Unconventional energy critical infrastructure management.
- Energy technology innovation management and underlying policy analysis through system of systems engineering approach.
- Decision support system design to enable decision making in both industry and government sector.
Energy Conversion and Storage
Dr. Grayson Walker is interested in applied research and development relating to fuel cell, energy storage, hybrid fuel cell-battery systems, and waste heat recovery for improved systems efficiency such as the application of thermoelectric generators to control heat and provide additional system power. Currently work includes a collaboration with the US Navy Facilities Command in Norfolk developing curricula in energy and the use of waste heat to improve efficiency at US naval shore facilities.
Sustainable Transportation Strategies
Research on Sustainable Transportation Strategies is led by Dr. Mecit Cetin, through the Transportation Research Institute. The work is focused on developing innovative solutions to address congestion, safety, and environmental impacts of surface transportation systems. The research activities of the Institute include the following areas:
- Transportation operations
- Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and Connected Vehicles
- Transportation safety
- Transportation planning
- Modeling freight systems
- Environment, energy, and sustainable transport
- Transport policies and tolling
Transportation Research Institute (TRI)
Nutrient Cycling in Bio-Energy Systems
Dr. Ben Stuart's current research project is assessing the potential of utilizing anaerobic digestion (AD) in the management of liquid and solid waste streams from houses and residential communities. Subsequent algal cultivation from the disinfected liquor from the AD process will provide opportunities for food/crop production, as well as serving as a feedstock for processing into other value-add products. The waste streams and cultivated biomass will also be processed into biofuels (e.g. biogas, bidiesel) that will significantly contribute to the energy requirements of the house/community, and co-products will be incorporated into recycle streams to improve overall process efficiencies and to meet additional resource demands (e.g. clean water, food production). Including water and waste management with the potential for food production and generation of biofuels will augment existing off-grid power technologies (e.g. solar PV, solar thermal, wind) that provide many homeowners with desired energy security, and will extend the sustainability and resource independence of residential communities. Results to date include food waste characterization (proximate and ultimate analysis), biochemical methane potentials, disinfection optimization of the AD liquor, algal strain selection, and optimization of algal growth as a function of the form of nitrogen delivered. These initial investigations have informed a materials and energy flows demand analysis assessing the potential for realistic implementation. Initial modeling of the AD processes has also identified critical control variables for optimized digester operations.