Douglas Patrick Harrison
	Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering Ph.D., University of Texas, 1966 Office: 324 ChE Building Telephone: 225.578.3066  E-mail: harrison@lsu.edu

Dr. Harrison's Retirement Dinner Photo Gallery

Dr. Harrison's research areas involve separations and reaction engineering. He is interested in the application of noncatalytic gas-solid reactions to the treatment of coal-derived gas. High temperature removal of H₂S from the coal gas is a critical step in the development of high efficiency coal-fired advanced electric power generation processes. H₂S removal may be accomplished by reaction with an appropriate metal oxide sorbent to form the corresponding metal sulfide. Economics requires that the sorbent be regenerable and that it maintain reactivity through many desulfurization-regeneration cycles. Past regeneration studies have utilized total oxidation, which forms the metal oxide and liberates SO₂, which must then be prevented from reaching the environment. The feasibility of the direct production of elemental sulfur during sorbent regeneration is a problem of current interest. Elemental sulfur is a marketable product which may be safely and economically stored and transported.

A second project utilizing noncatalytic gas-solid reactions involves an alternative approach to H₂ production by combining methane reforming, water-gas shift, and CO₂ removal in a single reaction vessel containing reforming catalyst and a calcium oxide CO₂ acceptor. Three separate vessels are required in the current process. In addition to process simplification, the alternate approach is more energy efficient as the energy released by the exothermic shift and CO₂ removal reactions is almost equal to the energy required by the endothermic reforming reaction.

Available laboratory facilities include a number of reactors and gas analysis systems required to study noncatalytic gas-solid reactions, as well as instruments needed to characterize the structural properties of the solid reactants and products. The research involves both experimental and theoretical studies of global reaction rates as determined by the interactions between mass transfer, diffusion, and surface reaction in powders, single pellets, and integral reactors.

Dr. Harrison is also carrying out research on the removal of semi-volatile contaminants from aqueous solution using a novel cascade crossflow air stripping approach. The cascade crossflow contactor has lower pressure drop and is capable of stable operation at gas and liquid rates which would cause flooding in a conventional countercurrent packed column. The concept is particularly suited to the removal of contaminants having small Henry's constants where steam stripping is normally required.

Recent Publications and Presentations

• "Direct Comparison of Countercurrent and Cascade Crossflow Air Stripping Under Field Conditions", width S. Verma, K.T. Valsaraj, and D.M. Wetzel, Water Research, 28, 2253 (1994).
• "Simultaneous Shift Reaction and Carbon Dioxide Separation for the Direct Production of Hydrogen", width C. Han, Chemical Engineering Science, 49, 5875 (1994)
• "High Temperature Capture of CO₂: Characteristics of the Reversible Reaction Between CaO(s) and CO₂(g)",  width A. Silaban , Chemical Engineering Communications, 137, 177 (1995)
• "Advanced Sulfur Control Concepts. I." with A. Lopez, J. White, and F.R. Groves, Proceedings of the Symposium on Advanced Coal-Fired Power Systems '95, Morgantown, WV, June 1995, DOE/METC-95/1018, Vol. 2, p. 610.
• "A Calcium Oxide Sorbent Process for Bulk Separation of Carbon Dioxide. VI.", with C. Han and G. Lee, Proceedings of the Symposium on Advanced Coal-Fired Power Systems '95, Morgantown, WV, June 1995, DOE/METC-95/1018, Vol. 2, p. 655.
• "High Temperature Capture of CO₂: Characteristics of the Reversible Reaction Between CaO(s) and CO₂(g)," with A. Silaban, Chemical Engineering Communications, 137, 177 (1995).
• "Control of Gaseous Contaminants in IGCC Power Systems, An Overview," Proceedings of the 12th Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference, September 1995, p. 1047 (invited review paper).
• "Advanced Sulfur Control Concepts for Hot Gas Desulfurization. II.," with J. White, A. Lopez-Ortiz, W.-N. Huang, and F.R. Groves, Proceedings of the Symposium on Advanced Coal-Fired Power Systems '96, Morgantown, W.V., July 1996, DOE/METC-97/1039 (on CD-ROM).
• "Performance Analysis of ZnO-Based Sorbents in Removal of H2S from Fuel Gas," presented at the NATO/ASI Symposium on Desulfurization of Hot Coal Gas With Regenerable Metal Oxide Sorbents, Kusasadi, Turkey, July 1996, proceedings to be published.
• "Regeneration of Sulfided Sorbents and Direct Production of Elemental Sulfur," presented at the NATO/ASI Symposium on Desulfurization of Hot Coal Gas With Regenerable Metal Oxide Sorbents, Kusadasi, Turkey, July 1996, proceedings to be published.
• "Characteristics of the Reversible Reaction Between CO₂(g) and Calcined Dolomite," with A. Silaban and M. Narcida, Chemical Engineering Communications, 147, 149 (1996).
• "On the Performance of a Cascade Crossflow Air Stripping Column," with Y. Akiyama, K.T. Valsaraj, and D.M. Wetzel, Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, 35, 3597 (1996).
• "Multicycle Performance of the CO₂ Acceptor in a Single-Step Process for H₂ Production," with C. Han, Separation Science and Technology, 32, 681, 1997.  
• "Elemental Sulfur Production During the Regeneration of Iron Oxide High-Temperature Desulfurization Sorbent," with J. White and F.R. Groves, accepted for publication in Catalysis Today (special issue devoted to environmental reaction engineering)