Eldridge, R. Bruce Ph.D.

Director of the Process Science and Technology Center and
Distinguished Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering

Research Areas: Energy and Environmental Engineering

Research Group Website

Research Presentation for Prospective Graduate Students

Educational Qualifications

Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin (1986)
M.S., Chemical Engineering, The University of Arkansas (1981)
B.S., Chemical Engineering, The University of Arkansas (1980)

Courses Taught

CHE 473K        Process Design and Operations
CHE 363          Separation Processes
CHE 354          Transport Processes
CHE 317          Introduction to Chemical Engineering Analysis

Focus

The development of separations technologies to meet current and future industrial needs.

Research

The separations research effort can be divided into three groups: traditional technologies, novel technologies, and new applications of traditional technologies. Details of each area are given below.

• Traditional separations technologies – The fundamental understanding of widely practiced mass transfer processes such as distillation and extraction can be expanded through the development of mechanistic models. Research in this area addresses both mass transfer and hydraulic aspects of these technologies.
• Novel separations technologies- Traditional separations processes suffer from high energy consumption and high capital cost requirements. More selective separations technologies offer the potential to reduce these negative factors and produce more cost effective process designs.
• New applications of traditional separations technologies- As frontier areas such as biotechnology and microelectronics fabrication mature, separations issues will become increasingly important. The research effort is targeted at meeting challenges presented in these rapidly expanding areas by evaluating mature technologies for new applications.

Awards & Honors

Fellow American Institute of Chemical Engineers  (elected 2010)
Stice, Wissler, Schechter – TEAChE undergraduate teaching award (2009)
The University of Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineering (2008) – Director (2010)
Young Engineer of the Year–Oklahoma Society of Professional Engineers (1993)
Young Engineer of the Year–Bartlesville Chapter of OSPE (1993)

Selected Publications

• R.E. Tsai, A.F.Seibert, R.B.Eldridge, and G.T. Rochelle, “A Dimensionless Model for Predicting the Mass Transfer Area of Structured Packing” AIChE J., (57) pg. 1173-1183, 2011.
• J. Chen, E.L. Rosen, C.W. Bielawski,R. B. Eldridge, “A Study of Cu(I)- Ethylene Complexation for Olefin-Paraffin Separation” AIChE J., (57) pg. 630-644, 2011.
• A. M. Kunjapur, R.B.  Eldridge, “ Review: Photobioreactor design for commercial biofuel production,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., (49) pg.3516 – 3526, 2010.
• S. A. Owens, A. Kossmann, J. Farone, R. A. Ketcham, R. B. Eldridge, “Flow Field Visualization in Structure Packing Using Real Time X-ray Radiography,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., (48) pg. 3606-3618, 2009.
• R. E. Tsai, P. Schultheiss, A.Kettner,  G. T. Rochelle, J. C. Lewis, A. F. Seibert, R. B. Eldridge,  “Influence of Surface Tension on Effective Packing Area,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., (47) pg. 1253-1260, 2008.
• C. W. Green, J. Farone, J. K. Briley, R. B. Eldridge, R. A. Ketcham, B. Nightingale, “Novel Application of X-ray Computed Tomography: Determination of Gas/Liquid Contact Area and Liquid Hold-up in Structured Packing,” Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., (46) pg. 5734-5753, 2007.