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Research
Research
The Li research group develops sustainable technologies for waste valorization to enable a circular economy and decarbonize industrial processes. Our approach integrates system-level assessments with molecular-level insights to address the challenges in the transition to more sustainable economy. At the system level, we evaluate feedstock properties, product distributions, and economic/environmental impacts to validate proposed strategies. At the molecular level, we design well-defined (non)catalytic materials, elucidate active site structures, and investigate reaction mechanisms through kinetic and spectroscopic studies to advance fundamental understanding and improve material efficiency.
Upcycling of Post-Consumer Plastics
Hydroformylation presents an alternative route to convert olefin-rich plastic oil into high-value and high-volume sustainable aldehydes, alcohols, carboxylic acids, and amines. The binding sites and local environment of catalysts can be tuned to control the isomerization-hydroformylation tandem reactions which determines the product distribution.
Selective Recovery of Critical Elements from Waste Streams
Immobilized ionic liquids offer an effective approach for selective extraction of high value, high demand critical elements (CEs) from various solid and liquid waste feedstocks. The careful selection of ionic liquid structure, support material, and operating conditions is essential to optimize extraction performance.
Conversion of Platform Molecules from Processed Waste
Platform molecules can be obtained after initial treatment of various waste feedstocks, which could be potentially used to produce valuable products with desirable economic and environmental impacts. A rigorous structure-function relations over catalysts with well-defined structure provides guidance to develop more efficient processes.
We acknowledge the generous support from
Teaching
Teaching
CHME 341 Chemical Kinetics and Reactor Engineering
Description: Analysis and interpretation of chemical kinetics. Industrial reactor design by advanced methods.
CHME 452 Chemical Process Design & Economic Evaluation
Description: Estimation of capital and manufacturing costs. Economic analysis using discounted cash flow, interest, taxes, depreciation, and profitability metrics. Development of project specifications for process design.
CHME 455L Chemical Plant Simulation
Description: Modeling, simulation, and optimization of chemical processes using the commercial process simulator Aspen Plus.
CHME 498 Undergraduate Research
CHME 599 Master's Thesis
CHME 698 Ph.D. Research
CHME 700 Doctoral Dissertation
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