Dr. Ritchie’s research deals primarily with functionalized materials, most commonly functionalized membranes. Modifying the surface chemistry of membranes and other materials can enhance separations or make the membrane reactive. We are interested in how membranes are modified and in scale-up procedures to commercialize the technology for implementation in industry. Current areas of interest include contaminant adsorption from water, protein separations, and anti-microbial surfaces. We also do research in composite materials.
Areas of Research:
- Functionalized Materials for Separation and Catalysis
- Polymers and Soft Materials Initiative
Dr. Stephen Ritchie’s laboratory focuses on the addition of active properties to passive materials.
The group’s interest in adsorptive membranes has been focused on antibody purification.
We also have a strong interest in commercial production techniques and applications for functionalized membranes. Currently, work is focused on high volume systems containing proteins and other biomolecules.
The group’s interest in acid catalysis has been on low temperature reactions where the competing solidâphase catalyst is strong acid ion exchange resin. Our current interest is adapting membranes for long-term operation in industrial systems. We are targeting applications with reactive distillation is currently employed.
