Process Simulation and Improvement  

We are participants in the Center for Clean Industrial and Treatment Technologies that is led by Michigan Tech s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and includes the Universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin. To advance the science of environmentally conscious process design, CenCITT is sponsoring research in two main areas: (1) ways to integrate pollution prevention concepts into chemical processes, and (2) new tools and strategies for process evaluation. 

My interest in the tools produced falls under a major software and modeling initiative entitled the Clean Process Advisory System. I have extensive experience in design calculations for a variety of environmental unit operations: air and steam stripping, carbon adsorption, catalytic oxidation, activated-sludge wastewater treatment, and others. The CPAS initiative is creating various unit operation modules and associated tools for process design and ranking, including a number of key process evaluation criteria (e.g., economics, safety, toxicity, environmental impact, etc.) 

Physical Property Measurement and Prediction  

Often, the high-quality physical property data needed in process design calculations are not available in the literature. As a result, we are developing and refining models for estimating physical properties from chemical structure. The centerpiece of our physical property program is a multi-year contract with AIChE/DIPPR (Design Institute for Physical Property Data) to compile and critically evaluate environmental property data and related estimation methods. A software design aid called the Physical Property Management System is under development to give the conceptual designer better access to data sources and structure-based estimation methods. 

Selected Publications  

D. Luehrs and T. Rogers, Partition Coefficients of Organic Solute between Water and Activated Carbon, Encyclopedia of Environmental Analysis and Remediation, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997 (in press). 

M. Mullins, T. Rogers, and P. Radecki, Engineering, Chemical Data Correlation, Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, New York: John Wiley & Sons, 4th Ed., 9 (1994). 

J. Mihelcic, C. Baillod, J. Crittenden, and T. Rogers, Estimation of VOC Emissions from Wastewater Facilities of Volatization and Stripping, J. Air & Waste Management Association, 43, 97 (1993). 

T. Rogers and G. Brant, Section 6.2: Distillation, Standard Handbook for Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal, Harry Freeman, ed., New York: McGraw-Hill, 6.23-6.38 (1988). Also see T. Rogers, A. Kline, and S. Unger, 2nd ed. (1997).