Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Our main research interests lie in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and reaction engineering, especially for the sustainable energy (chemicals/fuel) production and the environment protection. Catalytic reaction plays a major role in most environmentally friendly, energy and material efficient chemical processes. To meet the challenges of continuously changing nature of feedstocks and demand, new processes must be developed, and existing processes must be improved toward the direction of the cleaner environment and higher energy efficiency. The desired innovation can be assisted significantly by an adequate understanding of catalytic reactions and an ability to design catalytic centers. Therefore, our research goal is to search for and develop the underlying chemical and engineering rules governing catalysis, especially regarding the relationship between the active sites and product activity/selectivity. Afterward, the obtained fundamental knowledge about catalyst can be utilized to design innovative and efficient catalytic processes for practical application.

Our goal is to perform creative research for analyzing and understanding transport phenomena through experiment, theory, and computation. We are particularly interested in developing novel numerical and experimental techniques to understand microscale flow phenomena with liquid/gas interfaces and particles. Through the fundamental understanding of such phenomena, we are aiming to design innovative processes, in particular for the high-performance film production.

Our research effort is oriented toward the investigation of the flow properties of complex/microstructured materials and their flow behavior. We develop essential process technology for various industries like IT, BT, chemical, food, etc. Especially, investigation and control of particulate system, control of local heterogeneity, and developing new process by microrheological technique are studied.

We are exploring the use of supercritical fluids as green solvents for developing clean technology or green products. We have extensive capabilities and experience in working with high pressure and/or high temperature. At SNU, there are various facilities available for bench to pilot scale studies of supercritical fluids. The current research areas are numerous and include particle design, material processing, chemical reactions, bio-refinery, polymerization, extraction, fractionation, and waste-refinery. Our research results have been actively transferred to industries so that a number of commercial plants have been successfully operated. We also have been joining the international network to build a better understanding of supercritical fluids and other researchers in the world through the student and academic exchange program.

The Energy Process Engineering Laboratory is focused on the development and application of modeling, control, monitoring, and optimization techniques not only for the existing fossil fuel based energy production and chemical processes, but also for the nonconventional processes such as semiconductor production, bioreactor, and engine exhaust aftertreatment systems to enhance their efficiencies with environmental consideration. The main projects are the development of plant operation and maintenance systems within virtual plant framework, model predictive control and monitoring of automotive engine exhaust aftertreatment system, optimization of value-added product using microalgae, run-to-run control of batch processes including semiconductor production system and polymerization reactor, development of the whole process model of carbon capture and storage, development of energy planning approach based on dynamic optimization technique. In addition, we have also conducted research on optimal design of cooling processes using rigorous 3-D CFD simulation and continuous process for producing specialty chemicals. Our lab has built a microalgae culture system with monitoring and real-time control function for commercialization of microalgae based biodiesel and value-added products.

We pursue a converging of nanotechnology (NT), environmental technology (ET), and biotechnology (BT). We expect our results to be effectively utilized for an improvement of human life. The research areas are classified as i) Advanced Materials for Clean Environments and Energy; ii) Highly Sensitive Novel Sensing Platforms; and iii) Human and Environmental Risk Assessment. Our research group has performed these studies with a strong basis of chemical engineering. In addition, we have applied the fundamental studies with new concepts to ET as well as recent attractive NT including in situ sensors, nanobiochips, memory device, fuel cell, nano/micro reactive systems, adsorbents and catalysts. Currently, we are aiming at developing practical processes based on the results.

Our research is to understand structure-interaction property relations and its resulting microscopic or macroscopic behavior. To this end, we’ve developed theories, numerical methods, and employed numerical simulations to study molecular phenomena and evaluate properties of various systems like polymers, lipids or colloids, both qualitatively and quantitatively. We’ve used statistical mechanics to understand how molecular parameters translate into equilibrium and non-equilibrium thermodynamic behaviors. These researches provide predictive tools for both static and dynamic properties.

Zeolites and Molecular Sieves play central roles as a core class of heterogeneous catalysts in the chemical industry, together with metal and metal oxide catalysts. Their well-defined pore structures, excellent thermal stability, and versatility in chemical composition have attracted the chemical and industrial society. Despite the 80-year history of molecular sieves synthesis, vast uncharted waters in this field remain scientifically unexplained or unrealized. The Heterogeneous Catalysts Design Laboratory pursues deeper understandings of zeolite syntheses, surface reactions, and related physical chemistry fields based on experiments adequately designed by combining conventional and innovative methods. Moreover, we ultimately aim to design high-performance heterogeneous catalysts that can achieve low carbon emission, low energy consumption, and enhanced selectivity to meet the environmental and productivity standards of the 21st century.