Distinguished Seminar Series 2014 – The International Forum

Abstract

On-line real-time monitoring of chemical processes is an important issue for the proper operation and control of industrial processes, being specially critical in the case of polymerization processes, for which the properties of the polymer produced depend dramatically on the operating conditions of the process. Among the different available techniques, spectroscopic methods have the advantage of being fast, non-invasive or minimally invasive (require no sampling) and remote (in combination with optical fibers). In this seminar, we will present and discuss the use of near infrared (NIR) and Raman spectroscopy for the monitoring of heterogeneous polymerization processes (suspension and emulsion polymerization), for which the particulate and multiphase nature impart additional complexity and difficulties. Interestingly, it is observed that the spectra is sensitive not only to the composition of the reaction medium, but also to the average size of the polymer particles. By appropriate calibration protocols, these spectroscopic techniques can simultaneously monitor several different variables (chemical composition and “physical properties like particle size) using the same instrument.

Biography

Professor Giudici obtained his BSc, MSc and DSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of São Paulo, Brazil.

His scientific background was originally in Chemical Reaction Engineering, his MSc Dissertation was on modeling of biomas gasification in an electrothermal reactor and his DSc Thesis was on experiments and mathematical modeling of packed bed catalytic reactor for partial oxidation of ethylene.

In June 1992-July 1993 he took a sabbatical leave from USP and worked during one year as Visiting Research at McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada, in the group of Prof. Archie Hamielec on Polymer Reaction Engineering.

Working at the Dept. of Chemical Engineering of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), he has occupied the positions of Lecturer (1984), Assistant Professor (1990), Associate Professor (1994) and Full Professor (1999). He has also served in different administrative positions: Department Chair (two 4-year appointments: 2000-2004, 2008-2012), Associate Chair (two 2-year appointments: 1998-2000, 2012-2014) and Director of Post-Graduate Program (three 2-year appointments: 1998-2000, 2004-2008).

He has supervised 23 MSc dissertations and 21 DSc theses, and has had over 80 articles published in international journals. His main research interests are: Chemical Reaction Engineering, Polymer Reaction Engineering, Mathematical Modeling, Simulation, and Optimization of Chemical Processes; On-line Monitoring of Chemical Processes.

He holds a Senior Research Fellowship from CNPq (Brazilian National Research Council), level 1A.

Since 2008, he has served as the Chief Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering