{"id":93191,"date":"2018-12-18T12:59:11","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T17:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=93191"},"modified":"2020-02-04T15:00:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T20:00:16","slug":"ucf-undergrad-defines-role-co2-combustion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-undergrad-defines-role-co2-combustion\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Undergrad Defines Role of CO2 in Combustion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elizabeth Wait, a senior at UCF studying biotechnology<\/a>, recently published her fifth academic paper and made the cover of International Journal of Chemical Kinetics<\/em> for her study on how adding carbon dioxide to the combustion process could affect the rates of reaction.<\/p>\n

The study, funded by the Department of Energy, was aimed at investigating if carbon dioxide affects the rates of fuel burning. As carbon dioxide is a waste product of fire, the goal was to look for something to do with it once it is sequestered. While their findings have shown that the addition of carbon dioxide is not effective for combustion, the process could be useful in chemical manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exceptional achievement for an undergraduate student.\u201d \u2013 Subith Vasu, UCF professor<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Green chemistry has been a growing field looking at how harmful substances used in chemical manufacturing, and their toxic byproducts, can be reduced. Many of the solvents and reagents used in chemical manufacturing today are carcinogenic and produce harmful products. This process described in Wait\u2019s paper could be useful in reducing harmful byproducts in chemical manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exceptional achievement for an undergraduate student,\u201d says Subith Vasu, an associate professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering who along with Artem Masunov, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry<\/a> advises Wait. \u201cHer research topic has significant promise for reducing carbon emissions, i.e., enabling a new power-generation concept. Elizabeth has been tremendous in her pursuit of this problem. She is very driven and motivated.\u201d<\/p>\n