Summary
Dr Jason Hallett received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He joined Imperial College, first with a Marshall-Sherfield Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sustainable Chemistry and in 2014 was appointed a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical Engineering, before promotion to Reader in Sustainable Chemical technology in 2016. He has authored over 60 articles and holds 4 patents. His current research interests involve the solvation behaviour of ionic liquids and the use of ionic liquids in the production of lignocellulosic biofuels and sustainable chemical feedstocks. This research is supported by both the EPSRC and industry.
Dr Hallett currently serves as Director of the Imperial Network of Excellence in Industrial Biotechnology and as theme leader for Biorenewables and Biofuels research in the Manufacturing Futures Lab.
He is also co-founder of Chyrsalix Technologies, a spin-out company based on the group's ionic liquid biorefinery research.
Open Positions:
PhD studentships: The Department of Chemical Engineering is currently accepting applications from outstanding students for our Departmental PhD Studentships (http://www.imperial.ac.uk/engineering/departments/chemical-engineering/courses/postgraduate/phd/scholarships/).
These are fully funded 42-month positions with a host academic. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship hosted in my lab, please contact me (j.hallett@imperial.ac.uk)
Funded opportunity (UK students):
Project Description
This is a fully funded Industrial CASE project with Dr Jason Hallett (Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College, j.hallett@imperial.ac.uk, http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/j.hallett), Prof Paul Fennell and Prof Geoff Kelsall. The project will focus on the use of ionic liquids for in the fuel industry, with a focus on purification using extraction and electrodeposition to remove trace impurities from transport fuels.
The project will include a selection of topics from the following areas:
• Economic design of ILs/mixtures to target specific metals of interest including novel ILs
• Reaction condition studies for IL mixing – Temperature, Viscosity, interfacial tensions and densities
• Electrochemical visibility of metals in certain ILs
• Design of processes for mixing, phase separation and filtration on a large scale
• Computational thermodynamic modelling of IL-metal systems
It is expected that the project will evolve around the design, synthesis and testing of novel ionic liquids for the extraction of trace (ppb-to-ppm) level metallic impurities from fuel streams, and the electrochemical recovery of those metals for purification and solvent recycling.
The position will be located within the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College, and co-supervised through the industrial partner Shell. A successful candidate would be expected to have experience in either chemical engineering, chemistry, or within related disciplines.
As part of the degree programme, the student may have a short industrial placement at Shell.
Funding Notes
Full funding for UK nationals (required) for 3 years
Studentship is available immediately and the post will remain open until filled
Integrated Biorefinery Research:
This area of research focusses on the simultaneous production of both biofuels and chemical feedstocks from renewable resources, such as from lignocellulosic biomass. This involves a range of research areas in my group, including:
Deconstruction of Biomass using Ionic liquids
Enzymatic Biocatalysis in Protein-friendly Ionic Liquids
Bioprocess Development and Scale-up
Other Ionic Liquids Research:
Metal Recovery from Waste Streams
Process, Techno-economic, and Socio-economic Modelling of Ionic Liquid Biorefining
Catalytic Production of Platform Chemicals from Biomass using Ionic Liquids
Interactions of Ionic Liquids with Biopolymers
Recycling Ionic Liquids
Interactions of Ionic Liquids with Cells
Interactions of Ionic Liquids with CO2
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Hallett JP, Ford JW, Jones RS, et al., 2008, Hydroformylation catalyst recycle with gas-expanded liquids, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol:47, ISSN:0888-5885, Pages:2585-2589
Mota A, Hallett JP, Kuznetsov ML, et al., 2011, Structural characterization and DFT study of (VO)-O-IV(acac)(2) in imidazolium ionic liquids, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol:13, ISSN:1463-9076, Pages:15094-15102
Ranieri G, Hallett JP, Welton T, 2008, Nucleophilic reactions at cationic centers in ionic liquids and molecular solvents, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol:47, ISSN:0888-5885, Pages:638-644
Lui MY, Crowhurst L, Hallett JP, et al., 2011, Salts dissolved in salts: ionic liquid mixtures, Chemical Science, Vol:2, ISSN:2041-6520, Pages:1491-1496
Wells TP, Hallett JP, Williams CK, et al., 2008, Esterification in ionic liquids: The influence of solvent basicity, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:73, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:5585-5588
Hallett JP, Liotta CL, Ranieri G, et al., 2009, Charge Screening in the S(N)2 Reaction of Charged Electrophiles and Charged Nucleophiles: An Ionic Liquid Effect, Journal of Organic Chemistry, Vol:74, ISSN:0022-3263, Pages:1864-1868