Dr Leo Lue

Reader

Chemical and Process Engineering

Personal statement

I joined the University in 2010, and I am currently a Reader in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering. I received a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University (ASU), graduating summa cum laude in 1988. During that time, I received several awards, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Annual Chapter Award for Scholastic Achievement (1987), the American Institute of Chemists' Student Research and Recognition Foundation Student Award Certificate (1988), and the ASU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Distinguished Senior Award for the Chemical, Bio, and Materials Engineering Department (1988). In 1994, I gained a PhD from MIT in the Department of Chemical Engineering, holding a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship.

In 1995, I was awarded a two year research fellowship from the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California at Berkeley, working closely with Prof. J. M. Prausnitz in the department of Chemical Engineering. In 1998, I won a US National Research Council (a branch of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering) postdoctoral fellowship to continue research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO.

Before arriving at the University of Strathclyde, I worked as a Lecturer and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at the University of Manchester (previously UMIST) for 10 years.

Expertise

Has expertise in:

My main areas of research are modelling solution thermodynamics (e.g., developing mathematical descriptions phase behaviour), transport phenomena (e.g., heat and mass transfer calculations), and statistical mechanics (relating the bulk behaviour of a system to the structure and interactions of its constituent molecules). The range of projects that I have been involved with are quite broad, ranging from the fluid mechanics of vented runaway reactors (supported by the European Commission, contract no. C1RD-CT-2001-00499), and thermodynamic modelling of produced-water/crude-oil mixtures (supported by Shell and STATOIL), to developing and studying surfactant specific electrodes (EPSRC, GR/R41965/01) and modelling the fundamental behaviour of polyelectrolyte fluids and the influence of membranes on protein stability (BBSRC, GR/B17005).

Currently I am leading a KTP project with Pentagon Chemicals Ltd on developing a new process for the production of an intermediate feedstock chemical. This encompasses the full spectrum of process development from laboratory work characterising catalyst performance to designing for production on an industrial scale.

Publications

Anomalous heat transport in binary hard-sphere gases: Moir Craig, Lue Leo, Gale Julian D, Raiteri Paolo, Bannerman Marcus N; Physical Review E Vol 99 (2019); https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.99.030102
Molecular dynamics investigation of the influence of the hydrogen bond networks in ethanol/water mixtures on dielectric spectra: Cardona Javier, Sweatman Martin B, Lue Leo; Journal of Physical Chemistry B Vol 122, pp. 1505-1515 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b12220
A diagrammatic analysis of the variational perturbation method for classical fluids: Lue Leo; Soft Matter Vol 14, pp. 4721-4734 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1039/C8SM00676H
Application of the functional renormalization group method to classical free energy models: Lue Leo; AIChE Journal Vol 61, pp. 2985-2992 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.14868
Depletion forces due to image charges near dielectric discontinuities: Curtis Robin A, Lue Leo; Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science Vol 20, pp. 19-23 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cocis.2014.12.001
The cluster vapor to cluster solid transition: Sweatman Martin B, Lue Leo; Journal of Chemical Physics Vol 144 (2016); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4948784

More publications

Teaching

I have taught a broad range of modules across the Chemical Engineering curriculum, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My main teaching duties have been focused on the "core" of Chemical Engineering: transport phenomena, chemical and process thermodynamics, and design.

Currently taught modules:

CP204/208 Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer
CP407 Chemical Engineering Design
CP535 Molecular and Interface Science
18530 Chemical Engineering Project

Previously taught modules

Ethics and Sustainability
Nanotechnology
Problem Solving
Chemical Engineering Practice 1
Programming and Optimisation
Chemical Thermodynamics
Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer
Modelling and Simulation

Research interests

My research group uses statistical mechanics to understand and predict how the overall properties of a system, such as its dynamics or structure, are determined by the interactions between its constituent components. These systems can range from normal fluids composed of simple molecules to complex structured fluids, such as found in biological systems or many consumer and personal care products, where the constituent molecules can assemble to form intricate structures which can again organize to form larger structures. I am also interested how collisions between granules in a powder affects its overall structure and flow, such as in avalanches or pattern formation in sand dunes, and how bubble stability and interactions lead to the properties of foams. Currently, the interests of the group are focused on the role of electrostatics and its coupling to dispersion forces on the interactions and dynamics of colloidal particles (e.g., proteins, polyelectrolytes, micellar aggregates, etc.). A better understanding of the link between microscopic characteristics and macroscopic properties should allow the rational design of new materials and better prediction and control of the behavior of processes.

I use a combination of theory and computer simulation techniques to tackle these problems. The theoretical approaches range from integral equation and density functional theories, field theoretic methods, to classical solution thermodynamics and transport modeling. The simulation methods include non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and advanced Monte Carlo methods, as well as continuum modeling through finite difference and finite element methods.

Professional activities

External examiner of PhD dissertation - Mr Odin Kvam, "Molecular modelling approaches to phase equilibria in facilitated transport membranes", School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh: Examiner; 28/10/2020
Particle vs field view of classical systems: Towards a theory of cluster formation: Speaker; 13/11/2019
External examiner of PhD dissertation - Mr Xiao Liang, "Event-driven simulation of soft dissipative potentials", School of Engineering, University of Aberdeen: Examiner; 7/8/2019
SPIE Optical Metrology: Participant; 24/6/2019
Estimation of concentration and particle size distribution in colloidal suspensions via spatially and angularly resolved diffuse reflectance measurement: Contributor; 27/2/2019
Effects of particle size distribution and concentration on UV-vis-NIR spectra: Contributor; 2/10/2018

More professional activities

Projects

Doctoral Training Partnership 2020-2021 University of Strathclyde | Sait-Stewart, Robert: Li, Jun (Principal Investigator) Lue, Leo (Co-investigator) Sait-Stewart, Robert (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 01-Jan-2024
EPSRC-SEA PhD studentship | Sait-Stewart, Robert: Li, Jun (Principal Investigator) Lue, Leo (Co-investigator) Zhang, Xiaolei (Co-investigator) Sait-Stewart, Robert (Research Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2025
Mechanisms of tar and char formation during the supercritical water gasification of biomass for hydrogen production: Li, Jun (Principal Investigator) Lue, Leo (Co-investigator) Carruthers, Andrew (Research Co-investigator); Externally Funded PhD Studentship; 01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2024
Unravelling anomalous mass and heat transport in miscible liquids (New Horizons): Cardona Amengual, Javier (Principal Investigator) Lue, Leo (Co-investigator) Nordon, Alison (Co-investigator) Tachtatzis, Christos (Co-investigator); 25-Jan-2021 - 24-Jan-2022
The birth of crystals: new understanding of nucleation by direct measurement: Haw, Mark (Principal Investigator) Lue, Leo (Co-investigator) Sefcik, Jan (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023
Investigation of thermal lance combustion in oil and gas wells: Lue, Leo (Principal Investigator) Li, Jun (Co-investigator); 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2019

More projects

Address

Chemical and Process Engineering
James Weir Building

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