Seminars

ME/IE 8773-8774
THERMODYNAMICS AND HEAT TRANSFER SERIES (1130 ME)
Topic: Heat Transfer and the Environment
Host: Sean C. Garrick

Trace Gas Adsorption within Gas-Powdered Sorbent Suspensions:
Enhancing Mercury Emissions Control for Coal-Fired Utilities

by

Herek L. Clack
Assistant Professor
Mechanical, Materials & Aerospace
Engineering Department
Illinois Institute of Technology
Chicago, IL 60616

Wednesday, February 9, 2005
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Room 1130 ME
Coffee and cookies will be available at 3:15 p.m. in Room 1130 ME before and after the seminar

Abstract: Mercury emissions control is a priority and a challenge for the electric power industry, half of whose generating capacity comes from the combustion of coal. Powdered sorbent injection plays a central role in many mercury control technologies that are under development. Despite the similarities between powdered sorbent injection for trace gas adsorption and liquid fuel injection for combustion, the substantial knowledge base that exists for the latter has not informed the development of the former. This presentation introduces the concept of powdered sorbent-laden gas jets as inverse sprays, and summarizes our recent experimental, analytical, and numerical investigations that have sought to enhance interphase mass transfer within these structures.

Bio: Dr. Herek Clack is an Assistant Professor in the Mechanical, Materials, and Aerospace Engineering Department at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Dr. Clack received his S.B. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from MIT (1987) and his M.S. (1997) and Ph.D. (1998) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. His recent awards and honors include a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Development (CAREER) Award (2004-2009), an invitation by the National Academy of Engineering and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Germany) to speak at the 2005 German-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (2005), and selection by the National Research Council of the National Academies to serve on a 2-year committee to assess the effects of regulatory changes on air pollution in the U.S. (2004-2006).

Informal Faculty Luncheon: Wednesday, February 9, 2005, 12:00 noon. Meet in 1100 ME and walk to lunch with other faculty. Prof. Herek Clack will be able to attend.