532 Chemical and Materials Engineering Building
(780) 492-4676
Fax: (780) 492-2881
karlt.chuang@ualberta.ca

Research Areas: Air Pollution, Catalysis, Distillation, Sensors, Water Treatment

DR CHUANG's research interests lie in the area of mass transfer, separations, catalytic processes, and industrial waste treatment. 

Past research activities have included improving mass transfer equipment at heavy water plants; developing hydrophobic catalysts for heavy water upgrading and tritium separation; conducting research on low temperature oxidation of H₂, CO and volatile organic pollutants; removing NO_x from waste gases. 

Dr Chuang's current research interests include: 

1. Understanding and improving mass transfer equipment. Tests are being carried out to determine the optimum combination of tray and packing for distillation applications. The combination has been found to offer higher efficiency and lower cost than the packing or tray alone. 
2. Kinetics and mechanism of processes involving noble metal catalysts. The processes being studied are the removal of CO from polluted air, the destruction of volatile organics in wastewater, and the production of H₂O₂, acetic acid and acrylic acid. 
3. Removal of H₂S from natural gas. A novel trickle bed reactor is being developed for converting H₂S into S_x in the presence of CH₄ and CO₂. Also, a study is underway to develop a fuel cell operating on H₂S as a fuel and leaving sulfur and water as the only products. 

Sample Publications:

• Zhang, Q. and K.T. Chuang, "A Lumped Kinetic Model for Catalytic Wet Oxidation of Organic Compounds in Industrial Wastewater Streams", AIChE Journal, 45, 145-150 (1999).
• Zhang, Q. and K.T. Chuang, "Alumina-Supported Noble Metal Catalysts for Destructive Oxidation of Organic Pollutants in Effluent from a Softwood Kraft Pulp Mill", Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 37, 3343-3349 (1998).
• Slavov, S.V., A.R. Sanger and K.T. Chuang, "Mechanism of Silation of Alumina with Hexamethyldisilazane", J. Phys. Chem., 102, 5475-5482 (1998).
• Davydov, A., K.T. Chuang and A.R. Sanger, "Mechanism of H₂S Oxidation by Ferric Oxide and Hydroxide Surfaces", J. Phys. Chem., 102, 4745-4752 (1998).
• Song, M., F. Yin, K. Nandakumar and K. Chuang, "A Three-Dimensional Model for Simulating the Maldistribution of Liquid Flow in Random Packed Beds", Can J. Chem. Eng., 76, 161-166 (1998).