 Riki
Kobayashi
Professor
Emeritus in Chemical Engineering
Member of the National Academy of Engineering
Research Interests:
Thermodynamics
Transport Properties
Education:
B.S. (1944) Rice University
M.S. (1947) University of Michigan
Ph.D. (1951) University of Michigan
A "Differential Kinetics" apparatus has been conceptualized and
constructed to study the enhancement of gas-liquid chemical reactions
with aqueous alkanol amine solutions. One of the objectives of the
apparatus was to separate the mass transfer from the kinetic phase
of the reaction by using an analogous nonreacting gas in one of
the reactors. The full reaction takes place in the second reactor.
The difference between the two directly and accurately gives the
"enhancement factor" or the extent to which the chemical reaction
accelerates the overall reaction rate. Many other applications of
the "differential kinetics" apparatus have been formulated and are
destined for study, e.g., steric hindrance, tautomerism.
Over the years, a large number of exquisite thermodynamic and
transport property experiments have been developed and applied over
wide ranges of pressure, temperature, and compositions. Many of
these experiments have been integrated with spectroscopic techniques.
The first of these experiments involved the integration of a fully
automated pulsed NMR apparatus with a PVT-VLE (phase and volumetric)
"thermodynamic" apparatus. Its initial application has been the
measurement of thermodynamic and transport properties of the CO2-n-hexadecane
system at supercritical (with respect to CO2) conditions. It has
been demonstrated by comparison with literature data that highly
quantitative data like phase densities, phase concentrations, diffusion,
and quantities proportional to the fluid viscosity (spin lattice
relaxation times) can be obtained in situ, i.e., without
sampling or analysis.
Improved correlations of transport properties and mass transfer
coefficients and rate constants are likely to emerge from such studies.
Automated apparati, signal averaging techniques, and datalogging
procedures have been used throughout Prof. Kobayashi's lab.
Hydrate formation/decomposition studies by NMR and Raman Spectroscopy
were combined with macroscopic ramping experiments. Particular emphasis
was placed on the metastabilities and mechanisms associated with
the hydrate formation-decomposition processes as exhibited by macroscopic
ramping experiments. The influence of inhibitors and turbulence
on hydrate formation and metastabilities was also investigated.
Professor Kobayashi was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
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