This is a past event.

ME-EM Graduate Seminar Speaker Series

proudly presents

George Huber, PhD

University of Wisconsin Madison

Abstract

In this presentation we present a new platform technology for recycling of plastics using solvents called Solvent-Targeted Recovery and Precipitation (STRAP). This research is done in collaboration with researchers at the Center for Upcycling of Waste Plastics (www.cuwp.org) and Michigan Tech University. STRAP uses a solvent to selectively dissolve one polymer in a solvent from a polymer mixture. This polymer is then precipitated by cooling or using an anti-solvent. We first use three different computational tools (Hansen Solubility Parameters (HSPs), Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, and Conductor-like Screening Model for Realistic Solvents (COSMO-RS)) to predict the solvent polymer solubility. Our thermodynamic database can calculate the solubility of 9 different polymers in over 1,000 different solvents at different temperature conditions. This database has been validated with experimental work in the lab and allows us to accurately predict solvents that can selectively dissolve the polymer. STRAP can produce a high quality white resin that can be used for food grade applications.

Bio

George Willis Huber is the Richard Antoine Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focus is the design of disruptive technologies for the conversion of biomass, waste plastics and other waste resources into renewable fuels and chemicals. He is co-founder of Anellotech (www.anellotech.com) and Pyran (www.pyranco.com). He is the director of the $12.5 million Center on Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP). George did a post-doctoral stay with Avelino Corma at the Technical Chemical Institute at the Polytechnical University of Valencia, Spain (UPV-CSIC). He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005). He obtained his B.S. (1999) and M.S.(2000) degrees in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

Invited by: Ezra Bar-Ziv