12
July
2018
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00:00 AM
Europe/Amsterdam

ChemE’s Giannis Mpourmpakis named “Emerging Investigator” by ACS Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data

PITTSBURGH (July 12, 2018) … The American Chemical Society (ACS) Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data named Giannis Mpourmpakis, assistant professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, an “Emerging Investigator” in a special issue of the publication. The issue highlights work from researchers at the forefront of their discipline.

Mpourmpakis leads the Computer-Aided Nano and Energy Lab (CANELA) where his group researches the physicochemical properties of nanomaterials with potential applications in diverse nanotechnological areas ranging from energy generation and storage to materials design and catalysis.

Mpourmpakis contributed his paper “Understanding the Gas Phase Chemistry of Alkanes with First-Principles Calculations” (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jced.7b00992) to the ACS special issue. 

“Alkanes are molecules commonly found in petroleum and shale gas,” explained Mpourmpakis. “Their conversion to higher-value chemicals involves high temperature conditions that often result in the production of gas-phase radical species, which are very reactive and difficult to track in experiments.” 

“This work utilizes very accurate computational chemistry calculations to explain the reaction preference of alkyl radicals under experimental conditions,” continues Mpourmpakis. “The generated reaction data can be used to optimize processes for the conversion of alkanes to olefins, which are important building blocks for the production of plastics.”

With the cost of olefins growing due to the high demand for its associated chemicals and plastics and the low abundance of its common resource, Mpourmpakis  believes the findings may provide valuable insights towards more efficient production.

This research was supported by the Doctoral New Investigator award given to Mpourmpakis by the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Funds. (Read the SSoE press release about this award)

“I am very honored to be named an Emerging Investigator and have our work highlighted in this special issue of the journal,” said Mpourmpakis. “This accomplishment belongs to the very talented students that I am fortunate to work with in our lab.”

Another achievement from this journal article is the work done by Jonathan Estes, a chemical engineering junior who was first author on the publication. Mudit Dixit, a postdoctoral researcher in Mpourmpakis’ lab, co-authored the article.

“Jonathan did a phenomenal job in calculating thermochemical and kinetic data for a wide range of hydrocarbon species and their associated reactions,” said Mpourmpakis. “These involved hundreds of computationally demanding calculations that were performed on supercomputing facilities at Pitt’s Center for Research Computing. This is a great accomplishment for an undergraduate researcher.”

Click here to view the Emerging Investigators Special Issue.

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Contact: Leah Russell