Abstract

Our research group integrates multiple functionalities into a single unit operation at scales ranging from the materials- to the device-scale, in order to achieve breakthroughs in reaction and/or separations performance. This is achieved through an integration of reaction engineering fundamentals with materials science and control theory, as applied to real-world challenges. This talk will give an overview of our recent efforts in the areas of (i) composite polymeric gas separation membranes for hydrogen purification and CO₂ sequestration, (ii) traditional process intensification via thermally-integrated microreactors for energy and fuels applications, and (iii) inherently safer and intensified processing in the fine chemicals and pharmaceuticals sector.

Biography

Dr. Wilhite received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1997 from North Carolina State University, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame du Lac in 2003. His doctoral work with Profs. Arvind Varma and Mark J. McCready focused upon process intensification of trickle-bed reactors via exploiting inherently unsteady-state multiphase flow patterns. He is the recipient of the 2007 NSF CAREER award, the 2007 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and the 2008 DuPont Young Professor Award. He joined the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at Texas A&M University in 2010, where he is a faculty fellow of the Mary O’Connor Process Safety Center. He was the 2013 co-organizer of the 3^rd North American International Symposium on Chemical Reaction Engineering (NASCRE-3) and lead organizer of the 2017 International Conference on Catalysis in Membrane Reactors (ICCMR-13). He currently serves as co-Editor of the Elsevier Journal, Chemical Engineering Processing: Process Intensification.

Seminar sponsored by the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering