If you are interested in any of these short descriptions, please send me an email (william.mccaffrey@ualberta.ca) for more detailed information.

BIOCHEMICAL ENGINEERING
The goal of the biochemical engineering research is to develop new, environmentally safe and biodegradable materials for use in a variety of applications. Two current projects are under development:

Biosurfactants: Biodegradable biosurfactants and emulsifiers generated from renewable (non-petroleum) feed stocks would be a significant environmental benefit. The object of this project is to develop sugar based surfactants and emulsifiers for use in environmental and petrochemical applications.  Since sugar compounds are very difficult to modify, naturally produced sugar containing biomolecules will be used as precursors for semi-synthetic surface active products. 

Polymers from Renewable Resources: Biomacromolecules are an important growth area for polymerization of amphiphilic, functionalized polymers.  It has been proposed biopolymers will find applications in a variety of areas including supports for chromatography, cleaning technologies and bioremediation.  While polymerization experiments will begin using crude extracts, it is expected that the tailoring of the biomonomer will greatly enhance the success of the polymerization step. 
 

HEAVY OIL ENGINEERING
Research students involved in research in heavy oil engineering will conduct research projects that are of fundamental nature and have tremendous industrial importance. 

Molecular Modeling of Bitumen Separations:  This project is in collaboration with Dr. Philip Chio.  Molecular modeling is a powerful tool to understand very complex systems and how they interact with their environment.  In this project, the aim is to couple detailed experimental observations of the separations of bitumen from oil sands with dynamic molecular modeling calculations.  The aim of this project is to develop a new tool to evaluate the separation of extremely complex systems. 

Optimization of Bitumen Upgrading: This project is in collaboration with Dr. M.R. Gray and the Advanced Upgrading Group at the University of Alberta.  The focus of this project is on the yield enhancement of the coking process.  From the study of coke formation during the upgrading of bitumen, it has become apparent that a small but significant fraction of potential products is incorporated in the the waste stream of coke.  Our goal is to enhance the yield of the coking process by understanding these reverse reactions that trap products into the coke.