Dr. Charles Rooks
Adjunct Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
Head of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Undergraduate Laboratory
Director, U of H Diesel Vehicle Research and Testing Facility

Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
S222 Engineering Building 1
University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Ave.
Houston, TX 77204-4004
Office Location: S228
Telephone: (713) 743-4316
Fax: (713) 743-4323
E-mail: cwrooks "at-sign" uh "dot" edu

EDUCATION

— B.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Mississippi (1969)
— M.S. Chemical Engineering, University of Oklahoma (1971)
— Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Oklahoma (1973)

RESEARCH INTERESTS

› Undergraduate Laboratory
One of my primary missions is to upgrade the Undergraduate Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Laboratory. This includes upgrading the instrumentation in the lab and modernizing the experiments to more closely reflect what students will find in industry when they graduate. This is a 4-6 year project, but when finished should give students a feel for the diversity of the possible career paths available to chemical engineers.

› Diesel Emission Controls
Evaluating various strategies for the control of NOx, SOx, and particulates in diesel exhausts. We are currently working with the City of Houston on a $4.8 million, 5 year project to evaluate various diesel emission reduction technologies. The goal is to advise the City on implementing new technologies on their fleet of diesel vehicles. We are developing and evaluating innovative technologies based on current research within the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department.

› NOx Abatement
Working with local industry to measure NOx emissions from various types of heaters and boilers with the goal of building mathematical models to predict the emission levels from these sources. Once these models have been proven, they could then be used for EPA compliance, thus avoiding expensive routine testing.

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HONORS & ACTIVITIES

— American Institute of Chemical Engineers
— American Chemical Society
— Tau Beta Pi
— Southwest Catalysis Society
— North American Catalysis Society

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. U.S. Patent Application: "Method of Rapidly Converting an Acrylonitrile Reactor to Methanol Feed and Back to Propylene Feed," in process, 2002
2. U.S. Patent 5,892,131: "Transport Hydroxylation Reactor," April 6, 1999
3. U.S. Patent 4,367,160: "Oxidant for Gasifying Carbon Containing Materials," January 4, 1983
4. U.S. Patent 4,272,555: "Conversion of Carbon Containing Materials to Carbon Monoxide," June 9, 1981
5. U.S. Patent 4,272,399: "Conversion of Carbon Containing Materials to Synthesis Gas," June 9, 1981

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