Sub- and Supercritical Hydrothermal Technology

Dr. Sandeep Kumar is a chemical engineer and since July 2010 is Associate Professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Old Dominion University, VA. As Director, Energy Cluster at Frank Batten College of Engineering, Old Dominion University, Dr. Kumar is working on interdisciplinary research, energy-related courses, and outreach activities. Dr. Kumar possesses nearly twenty years of professional experience in industry, R&D, and academic research in the area of carbon black, nuclear fuels, and biofuels with responsibilities in new process development, process engineering, and project management. Dr. Kumar started his professional career in 1994 as a process engineer and was a certified project management professional (PMP®) between 2007 and 2011. Dr. Kumar earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, AL in May 2010. His current research focuses on the application of sub- and supercritical water technology for the conversion of biomass/algae to advanced biofuels and bioproducts. Dr. Kumar’s areas of interest are supercritical fluids (CO2 and water), biofuels, hydrodeoxygenation of lipids, and the applications of chemical and environmental engineering concepts to produce renewable fuels. His expertise is in high temperature and high pressure reactions involving biomass components such as proteins, lipids, cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. Dr. Kumar has served as reviewer/panelist for several scientific international journals and grant agencies. He has successfully secured more than $1.5M of external research grants including the prestigious NSF CAREER award. Dr. Kumar has been awarded 2 patents, and has published 5 book chapters, 30 peer-reviewed journal publications, and more than 50 conference presentations.

Fundamentals: Sub- and Supercritical Water. Power Plants. Supercritical Water Oxidation of Hazardous Waste. Subcritical Water Extraction for Bioproducts. Pretreatment of Lignocellulosic Biomass. Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomass. Supercritical Water Gasification Terrestrial and Aquatic Biomass. Hydrothermal Carbonization for Producing Carbon Materials. Aquathermolysis of Lipids. Hydrothermal Mineralization. Hydrothermal Processing of Coal. Hydrothermal Processing of Heavy Oil and Bitumen. Deep Well Reactor Design. Challenges of Corrosion and Salt Precipitations.