Mechanical Engineering Building, MC102
5 King’s College Road
Interested members of the U of T community who would like to attend the seminars can email Kendra Hunter at hunter@mie.utoronto.ca
Professor David Pui
University of Minnesota (Regents Professor and LM Fingerson/TSI Inc. Chair in Mechanical Engineering)
Green Technologies for Sustainable Environment
Abstract
We are developing green technologies to benefit sustainable environment, which will enable people and the environment to prosper together. The Center for Filtration Research (CFR) at the University of Minnesota, collaborating with 20 leading international filtration manufacturers and end users, was established to find filtration solutions to mitigate PM2.5 and other environmental pollutants. CFR investigators perform fundamental and applied research on air, gas and liquid filtration. There are more than 15 on-going research projects performed at CFR. I will select 7 projects to demonstrate the scope of the research topics: 1. Reduction of aerosol concentration in classrooms under various HVAC conditions to prevent virus transmissions; 2. Effect of ionizers on indoor air quality; 3. Smart compact bioaerosol sensor; 4. Ozone reduction and saliva droplet evaluation at low pressure aircraft environment; 5. Filtration performance improvement using beaded nanofiber; 6. Fiber shedding investigations using a pulsed air system; 7. Temperature resistant nano-scale membrane for enhanced ceramic wall-flow filter performance.
Large scale air cleaning towers are established in Xi’an and Yancheng in China, and two additional towers in Delhi, India. They are developed to mitigate PM2.5 pollutants in urban air. The second-generation tower in Yancheng is developed to reduce not only the PM2.5 but also CO2 in the atmosphere. All these research and development activities are helping to improve sustainable environment.
Biography
Professor David Y. H. Pui is a Regents Professor and LM Fingerson/TSI Inc. Chair in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. He is a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Director of the world-renowned Particle Technology Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. He is also the Director of the Center for Filtration Research (CFR) consisting of 20 leading international filtration manufacturers and end users. Dr. Pui has a broad range of research experience in aerosol and nanoparticle engineering and filtration technology, and has over 350 journal papers and 40 patents. He has developed several widely used commercial aerosol instruments for PM2.5 measurements. His recent interest involves developing green technologies for mitigating vehicle emissions, and for large-scale urban air cleaning. Dr. Pui has received many awards, including the Max Planck Research Award (1993), the Humboldt Research Award for Senior U.S. Scientists (2000), the Fuchs Memorial Award (2010) — the highest disciplinary award conferred jointly by the American, German and Japanese Aerosol Associations. He served as President of the American Association for Aerosol Research (2000-2001), and President of the International Aerosol Research Assembly (2006-2010) consisting of 16 member associations from around the world.
MIE’s Distinguished Seminar Series features top international researchers and leading experts across major areas of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering. The speakers present about their latest research and offer their perspectives on the current state of their field. The seminars are part of the program requirements for MIE Master of Applied Science and PhD students. The Distinguished Seminar Series is coordinated for 2022-2023 by Assistant Professor Merve Bodur.
View all upcoming MIE Distinguished Seminars.