9457013 El-Halwagi This is an NSF Young Investigator Award (NYI) for research which focuses on waste reduction though chemical process synthesis. This approach provides a systematic framework to efficiently tackle pollution- prevention problems. In order to address the problem of waste recovery through recycle/reuse units, the PI has introduced several new problems and developed tool for designing recycle/reuse systems. These concepts include the synthesis of mass-exchange networks, "MENS", membrane-hybrid systems and heat-induced separation networks "HISENS". A wide spectrum of separation technologies for waste management (e.g. adsorption, absorption, solvent extraction, ion exchange, reverse osmosis, pervaporation, condensation, crystallization and drying) can be tackled through these design tools. Economic and environmental benefits can also accrue as a result of using these design tools. The PI's teaching objective is to prepare a new generation of practicing engineers who are familiar with waste-reduction design tools and concepts. The PI has been working on incorporation systematic tools for the optimal design of environmentally-acceptable plants into the curriculum. In addition to teaching these concepts in the classroom, the PI has started to write a textbook on "Systematic Design Tools for Pollution Prevention". The book contains various educational tools and industrial applications on the design and assessment of environmentally-acceptable chemical plants. ***
