CHE Professors White and Aichele Awarded American Chemical Society Grant

Monday, November 5, 2018

The American Chemical Society has recognized the collaborative work of PI Dr. Jeffery White and co-PI Dr. Clint Aichele, faculty in the Chemical Engineering Department, by awarding them an American Chemical Society “New Directions” grant in the amount of $110,000 for two years.

The project, entitled Self-Diffusion and Interactions of Multicomponent Fluids in Model Reservoir Solids combines Dr. White’s expertise in advanced magnetic resonance methods and heterogeneous solids with Dr. Aichele’s knowledge of emulsions and colloids.  Together, they will work on a new research direction in which pulsed-field gradient diffusion NMR methods will be developed to investigate how multicomponent fluids, e.g., water and hydrocarbons, percolate through complex solids whose pores and channels are in the nanometer dimensional scale.  Interactions between fluids and solid surfaces are paramount to understanding how water, suspended solids, and hydrocarbons move in subterranean environments.  Diffusion NMR’s ability to determine diffusion coefficients of the individual components in a mixture confined to nanoporous hosts, and at pressures approximating those encountered in geological strata, is unique. Using recently acquired equipment that allows diffusion NMR data collection at pressures up to 15,000 psi, White and Aichele hope to design experiments that reveal how diffusion and surface interactions depend on the chemical substituents present at or near the solid host surface, as well as the pore geometry. 

This international competitive grant program receives applications from researchers in both the U.S. and Canada.