Research Interests

Current research projects, supported by Industry and in cooperation with Franco Berruti, address the industrial process used to convert biomass and fossil fuels into valuable fuels and chemicals. For example, the spraying of liquid into a fluidized bed is being studied at the commercial scale, under conditions relevant to the fluid coking process, in collaboration with Syncrude Canada and ExxonMobil.  Another example is the development of a new mobile pyrolyzer for the pyrolysis of agricultural and forestry waste, in partnership with Agri-Therm, a spin-off company that was created to develop technology that he invented with Franco Berruti.  Two other projects involve the upgrading of the pyrolytic bio-oil, in collaboration with Agri-Therm and Imperial Oil.  Current, more fundamental research is focusing on the development of new, advanced multiphase reactors for thermal and catalytic cracking.