email: bwilhite<at>engr.uconn.edu

CV: vitae.pdf

Education
  • Post-Doctoral Scientist, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Notre Dame
  • B.S., Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University

Honors and Awards

  • DuPont Young Professor (2007)
  • Office of Naval Research Young Investigator (2007)
  • Arthur J. Schmitt Research Fellow (1997-2001)

University Affiliations

  • Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, CMBE Dept.
  • Resident Faculty, Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center
  • Faculty Fellow, Institute for Material Science
  • Faculty Member, Connecticut Biofuels Consortium

Research Interests

  • Microscale, Integrated Chemical Reactors
  • Inorganic Membranes for Hydrogen Extraction
  • Multiphase Chemical Reactors (L-L, G-L-S, L-L-S)
  • Alternative Energy Education, Planning and Policy

Chemical Reaction Engineering for a Sustainable Future

"The boundary between 'midieval' and 'modern' is always advancing; and our age of coal and oil and sooty slums may some day be accounted medieval by an era of cleaner power and more gracious life."

Will Durant (The Age of Faith, 1950).

Growing energy costs, dwindling fossil-fuel resources and impending environmental crisis have driven efforts to re-invent our energy infrastructure as a clean and renewable energy network. And just as Chemical Reaction Engineering was at the center of the development of the 20th-century oil-based energy infrastructure, Chemical Reaction Engineering remains critical to the development of renewable energy and fuels technology. To that end, my research efforts are focused upon reforming of renewable (biological or agricultural) hydrocarbon resources (e.g., ethanol, sugars, butanol, vegetable oils) for efficient energy production.

Our research group combines fundamentals of reaction engineering with advanced materials, microfabrication and nanotechnology to investigate, and ultimately control, interactions between multiple physical and chemical processes within integrated or multifunctional reactors. Our efforts focus upon developing alternative energy systems (e.g. fuel cells, fuel reforming) and green fuels production (e.g. biodiesel production). My position as a member of the CMBE department, the Fuel Cell Center and the Biofuels Consortium allows application of basic research to solving a variety of energy challenges.

One of our research thrusts is the development of scalable, ceramic microchannel networks for "all-in-one" hydrogen production from logistic fuels (e.g. gasoline, diesel) for subsequent use in fuel cell systems. Current balance-of-plant calculations suggest energy densities upwards of 1500 W-hr/kg and 900 W-hr/L are achievable via miniaturization and process intensification (e.g. coupling exothermic reforming with endothermic fuel vaporization) for a range of 10-500W power output.

I am also involved in the development of bio-mass to bio-fuel systems. In collaboration with Dr. Richard Parnas, Dr. Nicholas Leadbeater and Dr. Yi Li, we are working on developing novel reactor systems for transesterification of waste oils into biodiesel. In parallel to my research efforts in this area, we are also working to develop integrated STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) teaching modules and courses focused upon biofuels. Towards that end, the Chemical Engineering Program has already assembled a 50-gallon capacity pilot plant for biodiesel production.

News and Announcements

  • Matthew Boucher's research on biodiesel kinetics to be presented at ACS National Meeting in Boston, MA, Aug 17th, 2007.
  • Angela Moreno's research on heat-exchanger reactor modeling to be presented at AIChE National Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT, November 2007.
  • Aug 24th, 2007: Prof. Wilhite named one of 15 international recipients of the 2007 DuPont Young Professor Award.
  • June 28th, 2007: Biodiesel team demonstrates new, continuous tranesterification reactor operation during 24-hour production of 200 gallons of biodiesel from cooking wastes.
  • June 5th, 2007: Undergraduate research opportunities available.
  • May 1st, 2007: Prof. Wilhite named one of 33 national recipients of the 2007 Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award.
  • Aug 5th, 2006: Prof. Wilhite's work highlighted in Nature.