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Alexander Penlidis
Professor, FCAE, FCIC, PEng
Canada Research Chair – Tier 1, Engineering of Polymers
with Tailor-Made Properties
Director of Institute for Polymer Research
Office: E6 5004
Phone: 519-888-4567 ext. 36634
Email: penlidis@uwaterloo.ca
Degrees: Dipl.
ChE, Thessaloniki, Greece; PhD, McMaster |
Research Interests
Polymerization kinetics, mathematical modelling and computer simulation
of polymer reactors, on-line sensor development for polymer and latex characterization,
polymer reactor design, optimization and computer control, emulsion/solution/suspension
polymerization.
Over the last twenty years or so, Penlidis has made outstanding and innovative
research accomplishments with major impact on the field, culminating in
the 1993 Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering Albright and Wilson Americas
Award, for distinguished contributions in Chemical Engineering before the
age of 40. He has been the founding co-editor and editor in the last 12 years
of “Polymer Reaction Engineering Journal”.
He has been involved with the internationally known Institute for Polymer
Research at the University of Waterloo for over fifteen years, being the
associate Director and Director since 1991. All these international recognitions
culminated in the Fellowship of the Chemical Institute of Canada in 1994.
He has a superior record in attracting and supervising graduate students,
post-doctoral fellows and research engineers (37 MASc, 20 PhD and 20 pdf/research
engineers in the last 15 years), and in attracting and collaborating with
visiting scientists/engineers from all over the world. Finally he has been
a consultant with all major polymer industries internationally. In 2002,
he was awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Polymer Engineering. More
information about the Canada Research Chair (CRC) program can be found
at www.chairs.gc.ca. Also in 2002,
he was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE).
Long-Term Objectives
- To enhance the engineering of polymers with "tailor-made" properties
for different applications
- To promote in parallel interdisciplinary research for polymers with
advanced technology applications and novel properties, with research
nuclei in polymers in health applications, biological polymers, polymeric
sensors, polymeric materials for photonics, and polymeric materials for
a variety of civil engineering applications
- To train graduate (and undergraduate) students and post-doctoral fellows
in polymer engineering, to train (and collaborate with) scientists/engineers
from other countries, and, finally to disseminate this new knowledge
via academic publications and courses, patents, consultancies, and industrial
in-house training courses.
My graduate students and I are currently working on the following projects:
- Kinetics and Modelling of Multicomponent Bulk, Solution, Suspension
and Emulsion Polymerizations (styrenics/vinyl acetate/acrylates/methacrylates).
- Development of Flexible Simulator Packages for Polymerization Processes
- Dynamic Optimization of Polymer Reactor Operation
- Polymer Reactor Pilot-Plant Instrumentation and Automation
- On-line Multivariable Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Polymerization
Reactors
- State Estimation and Kalman Filtering of Polymerization Processes
- High Temperature Terpolymerizations and Depropagation Studies
- Multifunctional Initiators
- Living Free-Radical Polymerizations
- Nano-structured Particle Technology
Selected References
- Wang, T.J., M.J. Leamen, N.T. McManus and A. Penlidis (2004). Coopolymerization of alpha-methyl styrene with butyl acrylate: Parameter estimation considerations. J. Macromol. Sci., Pure and Appl. Chem., A41 (11), 1205-1220
- Gao, J. and A. Penlidis (2002). Mathematical modelling and computer simulator/database for emulsion polymerisations. Prog. Polym. Sci., 27, 403-535
- Palmer, D.E., N.T. McManus and A. Penlidis (2000). Copolymerization with depropagation: A study of a-methyl styrene/methyl methacrylate in bulk at elevated temperatures. J. Polym. Sci., Polym. Chem., 38, 1981-1990
- J. Gao, and A. Penlidis (1998). A comprehensive simulator/database
for reviewing free-radical copolymerizations. J. Macromol. Sci.-Revs.
Macromol. Chem. Phys., C 38 (4), 651-780
- E. Vivaldo-Lima, P.E. Wood, A.E. Hamielec and A. Penlidis (1998). Kinetic
model-based experimental design of the polymerization conditions in suspension
copolymerization of styrene/ divinylbenzene. J. Poly. Sci., Poly. Chem., 36 ,
2081-2094
- R.K. Mutha, W.R. Cluett and A. Penlidis (1997). On-line nonlinear model-based
estimation and control of a polymer reactor. AIChE J., 43 (11),
3042-3058
- M.A. Dube and A. Penlidis (1997). Emulsion terpolymerization of butyl
acrylate/methyl methacrylate/vinyl acetate: Experimental results. J.
Poly. Sci., Poly. Chem., 35, 1659-1672
- N.T. McManus and A. Penlidis (1996). A kinetic investigation of styrene/ethyl
acrylate copolymerization. J. Poly. Sci., Poly. Chem., 34,
237-248
- Burke, A.L., T.A. Duever and A. Penlidis (1995). Model discrimination via designed experiments: Discrimination between the terminal and penultimate models based on rate data. Chem. Eng. Sci., 50 (10), 1619-1634
- D.C.H. Chien and
A. Penlidis (1994). Effect of impurities on continuous solution methyl
methacrylate polymerization reactors: II. Closed-loop real-time control.
Chem. Eng. Sci., 49 (11), 1855-1868
