Fundamentals and Novel Applications of Natural Carbonaceous Materials: Maximizing Economic Values and Improving Environmental Performances

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

There is no doubt on the importance of natural carbonaceous materials to Canada's economy. Yet their deleterious impact on our environment is inevitable from production to utilization. While past studies have greatly enriched our knowledge of the behaviors and properties of fractionated natural carbonaceous materials, synergistic and collective functions of these materials remain mysterious due to lacking applicable/accessible tools. In addition, one equally important piece, which hasn't drawn enough attention, is to develop green applications of natural carbonaceous materials and their byproducts beyond combustion. Therefore, the long-term goals of this research program are to: 1) fundamentally understand the synergistic/collective behaviors and properties of natural carbonaceous materials under different physical, chemical, and thermal treatments, and further provide practical guidance for their industrial processing; 2) utilizing state-of-the-art additive manufacturing techniques, stimulate and commercialize the applications of non-synthetic heavy hydrocarbons in electronics; and 3) developing a unified theory to describe general behaviors of multicomponent systems, and extending its application to water and wastewater management. The outcome of this research program will be: a) fundamental research tools that can be tailored for investigating other complex systems; b) databases of structure-process-property relationship for natural carbonaceous materials and their byproducts; and c) a paradigm shift from traditional combustion of natural carbonaceous materials to novel, green applications in electronics.