Roland Lee

MacEwan University · Department of Physical Sciences

A mixture of cyclohexyl methyl ethers was prepared from Kraft lignin pyrolysis oil for use as a biomass-derived aliphatic solvent. Using Kamlet-Taft solvatochromic parameters, it was determined that the solvent...

A switchable hydrophilicity solvent, N,N-dimethylcyclohexylamine, was used as a recyclable catalyst and solvent for aldol condensation reactions. Recycling of the amine can be achieved with carbonated water, giving a pure...

Renewable and environmentally friendly biodiesel has been studied extensively as a replacement for petroleum-derived diesel fuel. Biodiesel contains long chain fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) prepared from triglycerides and methanol with basic catalysts such as sodium or potassium hydroxides. The recovery of the basic catalysts is plagued by high...

Reported is the synthesis of carboxylic acids, symmetrical ketones, and unsymmetrical ketones with selectivity achieved by exploiting the differential reactivity of sodium methyl carbonate with Grignard and organolithium reagents.

In this work, the liquid phase hydrogenation of furfural has been studied using a biochar-supported platinum catalyst in a batch reactor. Reactions were performed between 170 °C and 320 °C, using 3 wt % and 5 wt % of Pt supported on a maple-based biochar under hydrogen pressure varying from 500 psi to 1500 psi for reaction times between 1 h and 6 h...

CO2 can act as a catalyst for the production of bio-jet fuel precursors through aldol condensation. CO2-Catalysed aldol condensation of HMF with acetone gives a >95% yield of [4-(5-hydroxymethyl-2-furyl)-3-butenone] mono-aldol condensate, while direct conversion of glucose to the same mono-aldol condensate gave a yield of 11%.

The conversion of sugars to furans has been gaining attention in recent years as a potential source of renewable chemical building blocks. This work considers the viability of CO2 as an acid catalyst for the conversion of carbohydrates to 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF). In addition, the effects of secondary solvents for the separation of the prod...

The move to a low-carbon economy has generated renewed interest in microalgae for the production of biofuels with the potential mutual benefit of wastewater treatment. However, harvesting has been identified as a limiting factor to the economic viability of this process. This paper explores the harvesting of microalgae using high-pressure gas witho...

In this work, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used as a process analytical tool (PAT), allowing for quantification of the output gas from a dry reforming of methane (DRM) reaction. This PAT was correlated with gas chromatography (GC) analysis, where nitrogen was used as an internal standard. Because nitrogen does not react under...

Dry reforming is a process allowing simultaneous conversion of hydrocarbons (methane being the prototype molecule used for this study) to syngas using carbon dioxide as an oxidizing agent. Such strategy may eventually become an opportunity for the industrial sector to produce syngas whilst valorizing residual CO2. As reported previously, an iron-ba...

• Biofuels, in conjunction to their positive carbon balance with regards to fossil fuels, also represent a significant potential for sustainability and economic growth of industrialized countries because they can be generated from locally available renewable material. • Biofuels are usually classified as follows: 1. First-generation biofuels are di...

Formation of pitch and sticky deposits through the destabilisation of colloidal material present in paper manufacture continues to be a challenge in improving machine efficiency in newsprint manufacture from a furnish comprising 60% thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) and 40% recycled fibre (RCF), and in an environment where water usage efficiency is at b...

The dynamic coagulation of colloidal pitch was quantified under orthokinetic conditions. The effects of single salt, multiple salt and cation valency on the stability of the colloidal pitch were investigated as a function of salt concentration. Critical coagulation concentrations (CCCs) were determined for a range of individual cations. The CCC in...

: Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was used to study the colloidal structure of model wood extractive colloids composed of a resin acid (abietic acid), a fatty acid (oleic acid) and a triglyceride (triolein). Two nitroxides were chosen as EPR probes to gain a greater understanding of the different regions of the colloid in order to assess the...

The effect of pH, temperature and shear on the coagulation dynamics of a wood resin suspension destabilized by salt additions was investigated. Stability of wood resin colloids was measured as a function of time using a photometric dispersion analyser (PDA) upon the step addition of salt solutions. Colloidal stability upon salt addition was found t...

The deposition rate of colloidal pitch onto hydrophobic and hydrophilic model surfaces was measured at the solid–liquid interface by impinging jet microscopy (IJM) and the effect of cation specificity in solution on deposition was quantified. On both model surfaces, the pitch deposition was slightly faster with calcium ions than with magnesium at t...

Within the pulp and paper industry, the recycling of process water to reduce water consumption leads to accumulation of colloidal Material in this water and greater risk of deposition. A major factor in the colloidal stability of these substances, which arise from the wood extractives, is the presence of natural polymers originating from the wood a...

Colloidal and deposition behaviour of wood extractives from Pinus radiata was studied and compared to reported behaviour of Picea abies. Differences in composition between the two species can be used to explain the differences in behaviour with P.radiata extractives being less stable against electrolyte induced aggregation with calcium and having a...

This paper describes the use of a photometric dispersion analyser (PDA) to study and quantify the effect of wood resin preparation and salt on the colloidal stability of wood resin dispersions. The PDA technique has two major benefits over other techniques In that it can quantify the aggregation kinetics under dynamic shear conditions and at low co...

The effect of pitch dispersion preparation on pitch particle size, aggregation and deposition tendency was studied. Pitch dispersions prepared from hexane extracted wood resins were found to have smaller particle size than dispersions prepared from model compounds. The addition of acetone was also found to reduce the particle size of the pitch coll...

The kinetics of coagulation/aggregation of the wood resin colloids under varying conditions of shear and ionic strength were investigated using a Photometric Dispersion Analyser (PDA) 2000. The PDA 2000 measures the turbidity variations of a moving colloidal suspension and monitors its aggregation/dissociation rate in terms of a stability ratio (W)...