The thrust of our research is to discover the governing mechanisms for transport of components between air and water. Research projects explore interfacial phenomena that govern transport and separations in environmental and industrial systems.
Results allow development and evaluation of mechanistic models and computational simulations.
Research in mass transfer addresses the weaknesses in our understanding of gas and particle exchange at air-water interfaces. The research impacts global change by addressing interactions in the physical and ecological coupling of natural waters such as rivers and seas with the atmosphere, in particular, addressing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide across waves, bubbles, and flat interfaces. Presently, equations and design rules that model and predict mass transfer rates for aeration, carbon dioxide exchange, and particle transfer are generally empirical and they suffer from limited applicability for strictly defined physical systems. Images allow direct measurement of the thickness and behavior of concentration boundary layers along flat and wavy interfaces and around bubbles. For results for ink adsoption measurements, click here.