Research

Nuclear

Focusing on the study of the behavior of materials in supercritical water Dr. William Cook’s research lab is conducting some of the essential research and development required to make the supercritical water reactor a technical viable product.

Dr.Derek Lister, Professor Emeritus has an international reputation in building an understanding of the chemistry, corrosion, and material transport aspects of water cooling systems.

Oil and Gas

Dr.  Ying Zheng and her UNB Hyroprocessing Laboratory has been actively collaborating with academia and industrial partners to carry out research in catalysis and reaction chemistry, new catalytic material development, clean fuels, biofuels and environmental protection. 

Recent research projects have included: the production of clean transportation fuels; enhancement of diesel quality, development of new processes to produce biodiesel/green diesel from bio-resources; and value-added products from petro-/bio-resources;

Dr. Laura Romero-Zeron and her enhanced oil recovery laboratory evaluate enhanced oil recovery strategies for new oil fields, for oil reservoirs that might not be accessed by conventional processes, and for mature reservoirs.

Recirculation Aquaculture Systems

Working on Solid removal in recirculation aquaculture systems, Dr. Michel Couturier’s research team is focussing their research on the development of improved design methodologies for rotary drum filters and scale-up of triple-drain tanks as Aquaculture industries strive to reduce costs and look toward using larger diameter fish tanks.

Pulp and Paper

The Limerick Pulp and Paper Centre is home to both Dr. Yonghao Ni and Dr. Kecheng Li. 

Working towards improvements in the pulping and bleaching process, and focusing research on high-yield pulp properties and their applications to the production of value added paper products and developing new processes and products from cellulosic fibers are just a few areas of the research conducted.

Adsorption

Known for his gas chromatographic method called the “Zero Length Column” technique, Dr. Mladen Eić is successfully getting mass transfer measurements in porous media, in particular intracrystalline diffusivity in molecular sieves and nano-porous materials. Recent research work has been used to determine diffusivities in gas mixtures as well as composite materials, such as bimodal materials.  Dr. Eić’s Materials Surface Characterization Laboratory is helping researchers characterize complex adsorption/diffusion and catalytic phenomena in nanoporous adsorbents/catalysts involving both gas and liquid sorbate phases.

Polymer

The polymer research team led by Dr. Huining Xiao has been conducting research on various projects related to the polymers as functional polymers (e.g., antimicrobial polymers, strength additives and nanoparticles) for value-added paper products, biodegradable polymers for film or compost package materials, nanocapsules or star polymers as non-viral vectors for gene transfection or drug delivery, and polymer-grafted cellulose fibres or microfibrils as reinforcements for biocomposites. Colloid and surface science associated with wet-end chemistry in papermaking is also one of the research focuses led by Dr. Xiao. The research team is also targeting on functional modification of cellulose fibres and porous fillers for various applications. The polymer lab is well
equipped with atomic force microscope (AFM), gel permeation chromatograph (GPC), tri-function nanoparticle detector, film line and facilities for antimicrobial characterization.