ndergraduate students who are interested in research projects in our lab. can either sign up for an MQP (Major Qualifying Project) or see if there are any opportunities for a summer research job. A listing of current MQPs will be posted on this site, which we hope to keep up-to-date, but this may not happen and the best plan is to see Prof. Dixon as project availability can depend on the state of the research.

ajor qualifying projects for AY 2013/14 - Professor Anthony G. Dixon

Project 1: “Hot and Cold Running Experiments” – use of heating and/or cooling experiments for the determination of fixed bed heat transfer parameters for beds of different catalyst particle shapes.

Project 2: “Shaped Catalyst Particles” – a CFD simulation study and evaluation of the effects of changing catalyst design features for hydrogen production by methane steam reforming.

Project 3: “Catalyst Particle Inclination” – a CFD simulation study of how heat and mass transfer to the different surfaces of a 1-hole catalyst particle are affected by the angle of inclination of the particle to the flow approaching it.

Project 4: “Chemical Looping Reactor” – a CFD simulation study of methane steam reforming in a chemical looping fixed bed reactor, in which gas-phase oxygen and hydrocarbons never contact thus making a much safer process.

Project 5: “Steam Reforming of Biodiesel By-product Glycerol” – a CFD simulation study of the gas-phase steam reforming of glycerol in a fixed bed, to determine heat and mass transfer limitations on the reaction under industrial conditions

For more information, see Prof. Dixon (agdixon@wpi.edu)