The Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan will purchase a high performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) that will be dedicated to support research in engineering. This instrument will be used to identify, characterize, and quantify the products from thermal and oxidative degradation reactions. The equipment will be used for several different research projects that investigate systems in which degradation reactions occur and are important. In some cases the degradation reactions are desired and carried out deliberately, (for example, destruction of hazardous wastes, conversion of crude oils and coal to liquid fuels). In other cases the degradation reactions are undesired, and engineers and chemists seek means to prevent or suppress them (for example, deterioration of automotive engine oils, formation of solids in jet fuel). The HPLC will provide access to heretofore unavailable analytical information that will allow the PI to understand thermal and oxidative degradation reaction pathways, kinetics, and mechanisms, more completely. This analytical instrument will facilitate advances in several different technological areas, including employing new approaches for treating hazardous wastes, developing better liquid lubricants, formulating the next generation of fuels for jet aircraft, and more efficiently converting coal and heavy oils into transportation fuels. This is a Research Equipment Grant (REG).
