Dr. Val Krukonis to Present the 22nd Annual
Nora Harrington Lecture at Elms College
The 22nd annual Nora Harrington Lecture will be held at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, on Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 7:30 p.m. in the Alumnae Library Theatre. The speaker is Dr. Val Krukonis, President of Phasex Corporation in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The title of the lecture is
"Supercritical Fluids: THEY’RE HERE"
The Nora Harrington Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Connecticut Valley section of the American Chemical Society and the Elms College Chemistry Department. The lecture series was inaugurated in 1983 to honor the 32 years of teaching service of Sr. Nora Harrington to Elms College. A social hour, featuring wine and hors d'oeuvres, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the FDR Room of Mary Dooley College Center (main level – at the left of Dining Room). The Social Hour is free to CVS members and invited guests. A reception will immediately follow the lecture.
Abstract
The use of supercritical fluids (SCF) in product and process development is a relatively young technology. Current industrial applications involve the use of SCF CO2 as an extracting solvent in the decaffeination of coffee and tea and the harvesting of hops flavors, essential oils, spices and perfumes from botanical substrates. Even SCF CO2 dry cleaning of clothes is beginning to compete with the traditional perchloroethylene dry cleaning process. All these processes have been developed to satisfy some regulatory or market driven need: replacement of organic solvents in the case of decaffeination and dry cleaning and superior product characteristics in the case of hops flavors used in the brewing industry. Additionally, hops extraction with CO2 not only produces a superior product, but at higher yield and lower cost than the (no longer used) hexane process. Based upon the proliferation of knowledge and data about large scale, long term (since the late 80s), safe operation of the technology, other industries are increasingly applying supercritical fluids to the solution of product purity and performance problems or to the development of entirely new products. Processes for purification of brain shunts, fractionation of medical polymers, concentration of sterols and carotenoids from plant sources, and production of narrow MW range high density disk lubricants have been in operation since the mid 90s, and virtually all the major pharmaceutical companies are today investigating supercritical fluid processes to form nanoparticles of difficultly soluble pharmaceuticals. And there are numerous supercritical fluid applications currently in progress.
Speaker Biography
Dr. Krukonis founded Phasex Corporation in 1981. Phasex is engaged in process/product development, toll refining, and contract processing for industrial and government agency laboratories. The company is a pioneer in applying the unique properties of supercritical fluids to the solution of difficult separations problems. Prior to founding Phasex Corporation, Dr. Krukonis was with Arthur D. Little, Inc., as technical director of the Supercritical Fluids Business Unit (1976-1981). His degrees are in chemical engineering: he holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois (1957) and an Sc.D. from MIT (1964). He is the author/co-author of 50 papers on packed column mass transfer, plasma conversion of coal to acetylene, boron and silicon carbide vapor deposition, and supercritical fluid processing.
DIRECTIONS TO ELMS COLLEGE
Massachusetts
Turnpike- East or West
Leave the Massachusetts Turnpike at Exit 4 (West Springfield). Take Rte. 91 South. Leave at
Exit 12 to Rte. 391 North (Chicopee). Continue with directions listed below.*
Rte. 91
South
Take Rte. 91 South. Leave at Exit 12 to Rte. 391 North. Follow directions listed below. *
Rte. 91
North
Take Rte 91 North Exit at Rte. 391 North (First exit after Main Street, Springfield exit). Follow
directions listed below. *
*Take Exit 2 to Center Street. At the end of exit ramp turn right, go through the traffic light and
take your first right, this is South Street. Continue up the hill through next traffic light and take
second right onto Grant Street. Follow Grant Street into college parking lot.