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Graduate Student Office: 328 Mason Lab Phone: (203) 432-7195 |
Since July 2012, PhD student, Yale University, School of Engineering & Applied Science, Department of Chemical Engineering May 2012, B.S.Ch.E. in Chemical Engineering, Trine University |
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Valerie is a doctoral student coadvised by Chinedum Osuji and Menachem Elimelech. Her research involves nanocomposite membranes for improved mechanical stability in pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). High-pressure PRO is an emerging renewable energy technology to harness the energy of mixing of engineered solutions with different salinities to generate electricity. One of the limiting factors of the technology is the lack of suitable membranes that can withstand the high pressures without reducing the efficiency of the overall process. Her current approach involves improving current thin-film composite membranes used for other engineered osmosis applications, such as forward or reverse osmosis, by incorporating nanomaterials into the support layers of the membranes. These new membranes are termed nanocomposites. One material being considered is microfibrillated cellulose. The cellulose fibers are 10-20 nanometers in diameter and several micometers long. The fibers also have high tensile strength, estimated around 1 GPa, and high Young's modulus, estimated around 100 GPa. These traits, as well as the fact that it is created from renewable resources with minimal processing, make microfibrillated cellulose an attractive material for creating membrane nanocomposites. |
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