DEPARTMENTAL SEMINAR

DePARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING
Faculty of Engineering
National University of Singapore
E5Engineering Drive4 Singapore 117576
Tel: (65) 65162186 Fax: (65) 67791936 /
TOPIC / Gas Separation Membrane Opportunities to Capture Greenhouse Gases
SPEAKER / Dr Pushpinder S. Puri
Air Products and Chemicals, Hamilton Blvd., Allentown.U.S.A.
HOST / Dr Tin Pei Shi
DATE / 16 July 2008 ( Wednesday)
TIME / 11.00 a.m.
VENUE / E5-02-32, Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore NUS Campus Map & NUS: Faculty of Engineering
SYNOPSIS / Solar radiation reaching the earth heats the planet’s surface (oceans, land masses and atmosphere), evaporates water, drives wind and weather, and powers plant photosynthesis. The earth's surface, in turn, radiates a portion of this energy at infrared (IR) wavelengths. Much of this energy escapes into space. However, a significant fraction of the energy carried by outgoing IR radiation is reflected back by to earth by particulates and aerosols in the atmosphere or is absorbed by atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), etc., known as greenhouse gases. These gases (with the exception of man-made CFCs) originate from both natural and man-made processes. As concentration of greenhouse gases increases in the earth's atmosphere, retention of radiated energy also increases. This shifts the planet’s overall energy balance – the balance between input from solar radiation absorbed and loss by radiation to space, contributing to global warming. This paper describes a variety of opportunities for membrane technologies to capture greenhouse gases. Increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is responsible for approximately half of the human activity related contribution to global warming. Membranes’ potential to contribute significantly to the control of the greenhouse effect, illustrated in this presentation for CO2 capture, is applicable to other greenhouse gases as well.
BIOGRAPHY / Dr. Pushpinder S. Puri is currently a Principal Research Associate and Process R&D Manager in the Corporate Technology Center of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. He graduated from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India and earned his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. Over the years he has worked in diverse scientific areas including industrial and medical membranes, fuel cells, microreactors, hydrogen generation and storage, etc. Dr. Puri is a member of AIChE, ACS and NAMS. For NAMS he served as a Director and President. He has 25 publications and 17 US patents to his credit. He has been an invited speaker at several national and international conferences.
A L L A R E W E L C O M E
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