PTRC Faculty Members

Steering Committee Members

Prof Jesse Zhu,  Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIC (PTRC Director)
Prof. and Canada Research Chair on Powder Technology
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-3807, E-mail:jzhu@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Zhu's main research interests are in the powder handling, fluid-particle and multiphase systems. His most important research achievements include the establishment of the new concepts “high density riser” and "circulating turbulent fluidized bed reactor", milestone work on liquid-solids circulating fluidized bed and downer fluidized bed, and the developments of novel methods that can efficiently handle ultrafine powders which led to the inventions of several new technologies.  Those technologies include four new inventions on ultrafine powder technology that are now in the process of being commercialized, including: ultrafine powder paint coating, dry powder pulmonary drug delivery, coating of pharmaceutical tablets and hydrophobic surface coating.  In addition, a new wastewater treatment technology using a novel LSCFB bioreactor is under pilot demonstration at the City of London's Adelaide waste management facility.

Prof Sohrab Rohani, Ph.D., P.Eng., FCIC (PTRC Director)
Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-4116, E-mail:rohani@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Rohani's research focuses on crystallization and process control.  His crystallization research includes: experimental study of kinetics of nucleation, growth, agglomeration, and breakage in batch and continuous systems; study of the effect of additives, control of crystal size distribution (CSD), application of Fourier descriptors and mathematical morphology for the development of instrumentation for the control of pilot plants and industrial continuous cooling crystallizers; recovery of protein from oilseeds by precipitation in a tubular reactor; and the effect of micro-, meso- and macro-mixing on the size distribution, shape and morphology of precipitation products. In the area of process control, uni- and multi-variable model predictive control algorithms using linear and non-linear models are being studied for batch and continuous crystallization processes as well as the FCC process. Geometric non-linear control and the dynamic optimal control are also applied to a batch crystallizer.

Prof Mita Ray, Ph.D. (PTRC Steering COmmittee)
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph:519-661-2111 ext. 81273, E-mail:mray@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Mita Ray’s research interests include: development of advanced air and water treatment technologies that are based on physico-chemical processes, (ii) advanced oxidation processes, and (iii) environmental modeling. Recent projects include pre-oxidation of biosolids to enhance anaerobic digestibility, photocatalytic inactivation of bioaerosol, fate and transport of persistent pollutants in natural water, and application of CFD in sludge drying. 

Prof Anand Prakash, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Steering Committee)
Associate Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 88528, E-mail:aprakas2@uwo.ca

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Faculty Members

Prof Shahzad Barghi, Ph.D. (PTRC Member)
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 21275, E-mail:sbarghi2@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Barghi's research interests are concentrated on investigating circulating fluidized-beds. In particular his research has focused on the measurement of solid circulation patterns in liquid-solid and gas-liquid-solid fluidized beds.

Prof Amarjeet Bassi, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 88324, E-mail:abassi@uwo.ca

Dr. Bassi research interests are concentrated on the characterization and development of liquid-solid circulating fluidized beds for various Biotechnological applications.

Prof Elizabeth Gillies, Ph.D. (PTRC Member)
Assistant Professor & Canada Research Chair in Biomaterials Synthesis
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 81263, E-mail:egillie@uwo.ca

Prof Gillies research involves the design, synthesis and application of functional molecules. The molecules of interest can range from well-defined oligomers and dendrimers to higher molecular weight polymers. In particular, she is interested in the interactions of these molecules and their supramolecular assemblies with biological systems to serve as new biomaterials and therapeutics. Molecules designed to interact with cell membranes can serve as new antibiotics. Polymeric assemblies are being developed for use as drug carriers or tissue engineering scaffolds.

Prof Hassan Gomaa, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Research Professor (Adj)
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 82403, E-mail:hgomaa@uwo.ca

Dr. Gomaa has been involved in application of Process Intensification (PI) for enhancement of mass and heat transfer operations. His research includes application of techniques such as forced and self-sustained oscillatory motion, as well as use of nanoparticles to overcome transfer limitation and enhance flux rates and dispersion characteristics. Application of his research includes developments in oscillatory flow reactors, membrane separation, electrochemical processing, photocatalysis, and gas-liquid, and liquid-liquid contacting systems.

Prof Kibret Mequanint, Ph.D., P.Eng.(PTRC Member)
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 88573, E-mail:kmequani@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Mequanint's major research theme is Cardiovascular Tissue Engineering. His main expertise involves designing of polymer systems for a variety of industrial and biomedical applications. His current investigations focus on the development of interactive biodegradable biomaterials, new 3D scaffold fabrication methods, vascular cells interaction with 3D scaffolds, and mass transfer studies in Tissue Engineering.

Prof George Nakhla, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Professor and Salamander Chair in Environmental Engineering
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 85470, E-mail:gnakhla@uwo.ca

Dr. Nakhla's research activities include: utilization of membrane bioreactor technologies and fluidized bed reactors for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater; optimization of biological treatment processes; use of advanced oxidation processes to enhance anaerobic digestion of biosolids and food wastes; and biological hydrogen generation. Recent projects with food processing industries have focused on developing innovative wastewater treatment system.

Prof Ajay Ray, Ph.D.(PTRC Member)
Professor and Department Chair
Department of Chemical & Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 81279, E-mail:aray@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Ajay Ray's research interests revolve around  mathematical modeling of various complicated engineering systems, and analysis of  interactions between transport processes and chemical reactions. His research has made significant contributions in regards to three 3 areas: (a) band-engineered photocatalysis, (b) Simulated moving bed systems, and (c) process modeling, simulation and multi-objective optimization.

Prof Amin Rizkalla, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Associate Professor & Chair of the Div. of Biomaterials Science
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 82212, E-mail:arizkalla@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Rizkalla’s main area of research is in wet chemical synthesis and physical and mechanical characterization of glasses and ceramic biomaterials that are used for dental and orthopedic applications.

Prof Andy Sun, Ph.D. (PTRC Member)
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, UWO
Ph:519-661-2111 ext. 87759, E-mail: xsun9@uwo.ca

The research in Dr. Andy Sun’s group is to apply nanotechnology to address challenges in clean energy. Dr. Sun is a Canada Research Chair in development of nanomaterials for fuel cells. They has established extensive collaborations with General Motors (GM), Canadian National Defense (DND), Ballard Power Systems, INCO and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to work on  nanomaterials and fuel cells.

Prof Chao Zhang, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Professor
Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 88345, E-mail: czhang@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Chao Zhang received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of New Brunswick in 1990. Her research interests include numerical simulations of turbulent, multi-phase, and reactive flows, focusing on two-phase flows in condensers, turbulent reactive flows and control in industrial furnaces and automobile engines, and gas-solid flows in fluidized beds, powder spray systems, and pulmonary drug delivery.

Prof Hui Zhang, Ph.D., P.Eng. (PTRC Member)
Senior Research Scientist, Adjunct Research Professor
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 81294, E-mail: hzhang1@uwo.ca

Dr. Zhang received his PhD degree (Chemical Engineering) in September 1999 from the University of Western Ontario and his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees (Chemical Engineering) from Sichuan University. Before his PhD program, he was a lecturer and a research scientist at Sichuan University. Most of his previous and current researches are particle technology related such as ultra-fine powder handling, fine powder coatings, functional nano-materials etc.

 

Prof Jin Zhang, Ph.D. (PTRC Member)
Assistant Professor
Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, UWO
Ph: 519-661-2111 ext. 88322, E-mail: jzhang@eng.uwo.ca

Dr. Jin Zhang`s group is dedicating to develop chemical and physical methods for the fabrication of multi-functional nanoparticles (MNPs), and bio-conjugation of these nanomaterials for the ultrasensitive detection of proteins in biomedicine and biotechnology.

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