CBE Seminar - Yinlun Huang

Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Wayne State University

Multiscale Sustainability: Basic Theory and Applied Studies

Abstract

The quest for engineering sustainability reflects a crucial paradigm shift in the 21st century, i.e., from the traditional techno-economic paradigm to triple-bottom-lines-based sustainable system design, manufacturing, and management at various length-time scales. However, sustainability is an extremely complex area of research and practice in terms of scope, spatial/temporal aspects, and goals; sustainability science is far from exact today. Engineering sustainability needs not only evaluation of the status quo of systems, but also prediction and strategic decision-making for the future under information uncertainty and knowledge insufficiency. Obviously, how to characterize, analyze, design, and restructure systems from the material-product-process level to the large-scale industrial system level, in the context of sustainability, is a very challenging area of research that needs much exploration.

In this presentation, the challenges and opportunities in engineering sustainability research will be discussed first. Then, the concept and fundamentals of multiscale sustainability will be introduced, and a Multiscale Design for Sustainability methodology will be described, which is developed by resorting to basic sustainability science, multiscale complex systems theory, uncertainty theory, and control theory. The methodology can be used to perform hierarchical system modeling, comprehensive sustainability analysis, and multiscale decision making under uncertainty. The methodological efficacy will be demonstrated through a few case studies, ranging from sustainable design of nanomaterials, sustainable manufacturing of automotive coatings, and to industrial-zone-based technology network sustainability. In addition, some fundamental aspects of sustainability control, including the observability and controllability of system sustainability and transition will be discussed, a hierarchical control schemes for achieving sustainability goals under uncertainty will be presented with preliminary results.

Bio

Dr. Yinlun Huang is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at Wayne State University, where he directs the Laboratory for Multiscale Complex Systems Science and Engineering. His research has been mainly focused on the fundamental study of multiscale complex systems science and sustainability science, with applied study on engineering sustainability, including sustainable nanomaterial development, integrated design of sustainable product and process systems, and manufacturing sustainability. He has published widely in these areas. Dr. Huang is currently directing the NSF funded Sustainable Manufacturing Advances in Research and Technology Coordination Network. Dr. Huang is a recipient of AIChE Sustainability Education Award and Research Excellence in Sustainable Engineering Award in 2016 and 2010, respectively, the NASF Scientific Achievement Award in 2013, and the Michigan Green Chemistry Governor’s Award in 2009. He is an elected AIChE Fellow. Dr. Huang holds a B.S. degree from Zhejiang University, China, and a M.S. and a Ph.D. degree from Kansas State University, all in chemical engineering. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas at Austin before joining Wayne State University in 1993.