Eric Croiset

Eric Croiset, PhD is a Professor at the University of Waterloo and the former Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department.

His research interests include sustainable energy management, reaction engineering, the exploration of alternative energy and the optimization of carbon dioxide capture processes.

Dr. Croiset and his team have collaborated with CanmetENERGY, Natural Resources Canada to understand, simulate and economically evaluate 3 carbon dioxide capture processes: post-combustion, pre-combustion and oxy-fuel combustion. His goal is to understand the dynamic behaviour of carbon dioxide capture plants, and to develop designs of power plants with carbon dioxide capture. Professor Croiset is also interested in multi-period optimization to predict the impact of new technologies, such as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, on the fleet of power generation in Ontario over the next few decades.

Prof. Croiset’s interest in alternative energy sources has led him to model the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and understand charge transfer and reaction kinetics in the SOFC. This is in an effort to reduce the operating temperature range from 800-100oC to 600-700oC, as high temperatures result in fuel cell instability. His approach is to use a ceria-based electrolyte and develop carbon and sulfur tolerant anodes on metal supported SOFC.

Another area of Prof. Croiset’s research work is in syngas/hydrogen production from natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), ethanol and glycerol. He is also producing high pressure hydrogen from ethanol, desulphurization using advance solvents and designing reactors and systems to produce methanol. In 2010 and 2011, he received a grant of $7,425 from the Ontario Centres of Excellence for the preliminary design of Elementa Green Methanol Waste-to-Methanol Process (Elementa).

In addition to his research work, Prof. Croiset has contributed to the book “Environmentally Conscious Fossil Energy Production.”