AT THE SONOCHEMISTRY CENTRE AT COVENTRY UNIVERSITY

'The Home of Sound Science'

The Sonochemistry Centre in Coventry University was established in 1994 it has achieved a position of international excellence in a variety of applications of power ultrasound in chemistry and processing technologies. Amongst these applications are: Environmental Protection, Electrochemistry, Food Processing, Material Science and Therapeutic Ultrasound.

The Centre is a national and international resource base for topics related to power ultrasound and will provide expertise on applications of sonochemistry to academic institutions, companies and government organizations.

Since the end of the 1980’s Sonochemistry has grown and expanded well beyond what might be considered to be “pure” chemistry as shown below.

Background information on sonochemistry can be found in this website below under the headings:

· General introduction to ultrasound and sonochemistry

· Cavitation – the driving force in sonochemistry

· Transducers – the devices which provide acoustic energy

The team of researchers within the sonochemistry group (May 2008):

Left to right: Bilal Mkhlef (MSc Student), Dr Andy Cobley (Team Leader, Materials), Professor Tim Mason (Director of the Sonochemistry Centre), Dr Larysa Paniwynk (Associate Director of the Sonochemistry Centre), Anas Al Abachi (PhD student), Dr Eadaoin Joyce (Team Leader, Environment), Amna Al-Hashimi (PhD Student), Dr John Graves (Research technician), Veronica Saez Bernal (Research technician), On-anong Larpparisudthi (PhD student), Mohammed Alarjah (Research technician), Xiaoge Wu (PhD student), Dr. Fakhradin Mirkhalaf (Team Leader, Electrochemistry)

The team are highly-qualified and experienced specialists in a wide range of applications of Sonochemistry, some of which are shown below:

· Chemical Synthesis new methods, green chemistry and catalysis

· Electrochemistry analysis, plating, synthesis

· Environmental Protection remediation of air, land and water

· Food Technology drying, mixing, preservation and extraction of raw materials from plants

· Materials Science nanoparticles, polymer science and technology

**· Microbiology modification of cells and enzyme action**

· Reactor Design and Scale-Up optimization of effects

· Therapeutic Ultrasound cancer treatment and drug delivery

Most of these topics have received UK and EU funding together with industrial sponsorships that have generated both high-quality research, review papers and textbooks, and new, safer and cost-effective chemical processes in Industry. We have carried out many projects worldwide for our clients, many of whom are household names (e.g. DEFRA, DTI, Unilever, Yorkshire Water) and implemented some new concepts and processes throughout Industry.

Any enquires about M.Sc and Ph.D programes in the above topics are available in the Sonochemistry Centre and for enquires please contact: t.mason@coventry.ac.uk

General reading material can be found in the following texts:

Sonochemistry, by T.J.Mason, Oxford University Primer Series No 70, Oxford Science Publications, pp 92, 1999, ISBN 0 19 850371 7.

Applied Sonochemistry, by T.J.Mason and J.P.Lorimer, Wiley VCH (2002) ISBN 3-527-30205-0

Practical Sonochemistry, (2^nd Edition) by T.J.Mason and D Peters, Ellis Horwood Publishers (2002) ISBN 1-898563-83-7.

Other publications from the group can be found under:

· Advances in Sonochemistry a series of monographs

· Books and chapters on sonochemistry

· Research papers in sonochemistry