Projects per year
Personal profile
Personal Statement
I joined the University in 2010, and I am currently a Reader in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering. I received a BSE in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University (ASU), graduating summa cum laude in 1988. During that time, I received several awards, including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers' (AIChE) Annual Chapter Award for Scholastic Achievement (1987), the American Institute of Chemists' Student Research and Recognition Foundation Student Award Certificate (1988), and the ASU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Distinguished Senior Award for the Chemical, Bio, and Materials Engineering Department (1988). In 1994, I gained a PhD from MIT in the Department of Chemical Engineering, holding a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship.
In 1995, I was awarded a two year research fellowship from the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science at the University of California at Berkeley, working closely with Prof. J. M. Prausnitz in the department of Chemical Engineering. In 1998, I won a US National Research Council (a branch of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering) postdoctoral fellowship to continue research at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, CO.
Before arriving at the University of Strathclyde, I worked as a Lecturer and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science at the University of Manchester (previously UMIST) for 10 years.
Research Interests
My research group uses statistical mechanics to understand and predict how the overall properties of a system, such as its dynamics or structure, are determined by the interactions between its constituent components. These systems can range from normal fluids composed of simple molecules to complex structured fluids, such as found in biological systems or many consumer and personal care products, where the constituent molecules can assemble to form intricate structures which can again organize to form larger structures. I am also interested how collisions between granules in a powder affects its overall structure and flow, such as in avalanches or pattern formation in sand dunes, and how bubble stability and interactions lead to the properties of foams. Currently, the interests of the group are focused on the role of electrostatics and its coupling to dispersion forces on the interactions and dynamics of colloidal particles (e.g., proteins, polyelectrolytes, micellar aggregates, etc.). A better understanding of the link between microscopic characteristics and macroscopic properties should allow the rational design of new materials and better prediction and control of the behavior of processes.
I use a combination of theory and computer simulation techniques to tackle these problems. The theoretical approaches range from integral equation and density functional theories, field theoretic methods, to classical solution thermodynamics and transport modeling. The simulation methods include non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and advanced Monte Carlo methods, as well as continuum modeling through finite difference and finite element methods.
Expertise & Capabilities
My main areas of research are modelling solution thermodynamics (e.g., developing mathematical descriptions phase behaviour), transport phenomena (e.g., heat and mass transfer calculations), and statistical mechanics (relating the bulk behaviour of a system to the structure and interactions of its constituent molecules). The range of projects that I have been involved with are quite broad, ranging from the fluid mechanics of vented runaway reactors (supported by the European Commission, contract no. C1RD-CT-2001-00499), and thermodynamic modelling of produced-water/crude-oil mixtures (supported by Shell and STATOIL), to developing and studying surfactant specific electrodes (EPSRC, GR/R41965/01) and modelling the fundamental behaviour of polyelectrolyte fluids and the influence of membranes on protein stability (BBSRC, GR/B17005).
Currently I am leading a KTP project with Pentagon Chemicals Ltd on developing a new process for the production of an intermediate feedstock chemical. This encompasses the full spectrum of process development from laboratory work characterising catalyst performance to designing for production on an industrial scale.
Teaching Interests
I have taught a broad range of modules across the Chemical Engineering curriculum, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. My main teaching duties have been focused on the "core" of Chemical Engineering: transport phenomena, chemical and process thermodynamics, and design.
Currently taught modules:
- CP204/208 Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer
- CP407 Chemical Engineering Design
- CP535 Molecular and Interface Science
- 18530 Chemical Engineering Project
Previously taught modules
- Ethics and Sustainability
- Nanotechnology
- Problem Solving
- Chemical Engineering Practice 1
- Programming and Optimisation
- Chemical Thermodynamics
- Momentum, Heat, and Mass Transfer
- Modelling and Simulation
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bachelor of Science in Engineering, Arizona State University
Fingerprint Fingerprint is based on mining the text of the person's scientific documents to create an index of weighted terms, which defines the key subjects of each individual researcher.
Network
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Projects 2011 2022
DTP 2018-19 University of Strathclyde | Miller, Russell
Sefcik, J., Lue, L. & Miller, R.
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/10/18 → 1/04/22
Project: Research Studentship - Internally Allocated › Research Studentship (Internally Allocated)
Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP 2016-2017 University of Strathclyde) | Shahid, Muhid
Price, C. J., Lue, L. & Shahid, M.
EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council)
1/10/17 → 1/04/21
Project: Research Studentship - Internally Allocated › Research Studentship (Internally Allocated)
Selected Research Output 1992 2019
A diagrammatic analysis of the variational perturbation method for classical fluids
Lue, L., 13 Jun 2018, In : Soft Matter. 14, p. 4721-4734Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Molecular dynamics investigation of the influence of the hydrogen bond networks in ethanol/water mixtures on dielectric spectra
Cardona, J., Sweatman, M. B. & Lue, L., 4 Jan 2018, In : Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 122, 4, p. 1505-1515 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Application of the functional renormalization group method to classical free energy models
Lue, L., Sep 2015, In : AIChE Journal. 61, 9, p. 2985-2992Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Depletion forces due to image charges near dielectric discontinuities
Curtis, R. A. & Lue, L., Feb 2015, In : Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science . 20, 1, p. 19-23 5 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Literature review
The cluster vapor to cluster solid transition
Sweatman, M. B. & Lue, L., 7 May 2016, In : Journal of Chemical Physics. 144, 17, 4 p., 171102.Research output: Contribution to journal › Letter
Ions confined in spherical dielectric cavities modeled by a splitting field-theory
Lue, L. & Linse, P., 2015, In : Journal of Chemical Physics . 142, 14, 13 p., 144902.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Molecular dynamics simulations for the prediction of the dielectric spectra of alcohols, glycols, and monoethanolamine
Cardona, J., Fartaria, R., Sweatman, M. B. & Lue, L., 23 Mar 2016, In : Molecular Simulation. 42, 5, p. 370-390 21 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
The electric double layer at high surface potentials: the influence of excess ion polarizability
Hatlo, M. M., van Roij, R. & Lue, L., 18 Jan 2012, In : EPL: A Letters Journal Exploring the Frontiers of Physics. 97, 2, 6 p., 28010.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
DynamO: a free O(N) general event-driven molecular dynamics simulator
Bannerman, M. N., Sargant, R. & Lue, L., 30 Nov 2011, In : Journal of Computational Chemistry . 32, 15, p. 3329-3338 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
Datasets
Molecular dynamics investigation of the influence of the hydrogen bond networks in ethanol/water mixtures on dielectric spectra
Cardona Amengual, J. (Creator), University of Strathclyde, 6 Dec 2017
DOI: 10.15129/484b40b0-c5d9-42b6-9e64-581bdc710030
Dataset
Thesis
Complex flow of concentrated suspensions
Author: Forsyth, C., 1 Jul 2015Supervisor: Haw, M. (Supervisor) & Lue, L. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
Modelling the static properties of ions under different charge distributions
Author: Duncan, P. M., 1 Dec 2014Supervisor: Lue, L. (Supervisor) & Mulheran, P. (Supervisor)
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis
Activities 2000 2018
Structure and cluster formation in size asymmetric soft electrolyte systems
Paul Matthew Duncan (Contributor), Javier Cardona (Contributor), Leo Lue (Speaker)Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Workshop on Agricultural Biomass Waste -Utilisation Routes
Jun Li (Organiser), Leo Lue (Organiser), Esther Ventura-Medina (Organiser)Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course