The principal objective of this project is to minimize the formation of atmospheric pollutants during the combustion of gaseous, liquid and solid fuels. This process is advantageous relative to conventional burners in that backmixing is avoided. Thermally stabilized combustion also has promise for the industrial generation of steam in very compact, efficient devices. The use of this process for incineration of toxic chemicals is also being investigated. This process holds promise for airplanes, clean rooms, hospitals, etc.
Additional work concentrates on the rates of adsorption in micropores.
Adsorptive and chromatographic separations are widely used in the production of pharmaceuticals and other fine chemicals. We also have ongoing research projects focused on transport in biological systems. The movement or transport of populations of motile microorganisms can be modeled at the macroscopic level in terms of intrinsic properties derived from microscopic observations of individual cells or organisms. For swimming bacteria responding to chemical signals in their suspending medium these properties include a motility coefficient describing their random migratory behavior as well as chemotactic sensitivity coefficients relating to their directed movement in response to specific chemical gradients. We have a continuing effort to develop new techniques for measuring these properties, especially in defined micron-sized media wherein the bacterial movement is restricted.