Start
Nov 15, 2011 - 16:00
End
Nov 15, 2011 - 17:00
Venue
Room 118 Chemical Eng.
Event Type
Speaker
Prof. Murray Gray Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering University of Alberta Edmonton Canada.
Title
Processing of Complex Nano-Structured Fluids: Fundamental Gaps in Engineering and Chemistry for Processing Heavy Petroleum Fractions
Abstract: The heavy fractions of petroleum and bitumen are processed on an enormous scale around the world but the fundamental understanding of these materials lags far behind the empirical tools for design and operation of refineries. These heavy fractions are in a difficult range of molecular size that sits in between common commodity chemicals with simple structure on the one hand and high polymers with repeating monomer units on the other hand. The association of these components gives rise to complex phase behaviour and physical properties that must be understood in order to develop new process alternatives. This lecture will review the basic chemistry of these mixtures and suggest how the nano-scale assembly of the components affects reaction behavior transport processes phase behaviour and thermodynamic properties. The potential application of the tools of modern nanotechnology to characterize aggregation in non-aqueous solutions will be discussed.About the Speaker: Professor Gray is an eminent researcher in the Energy and Oil sands area in Canada and has worked quite extensively across the multi-disciplinary aspects (involving the disciplines of nanotechnology biotechnology chemistry chemical engineering) of the overall research in the conventional non-conventional and renewable energy areas. He has won several awards in this area and is recognized as a global expert in these areas.