Contact
Ph.D in Chemical Engineering, City College of New York
B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Louisiana – Lafayette (2011)
Carbon / Coal Science / Reaction Engineering / Conversion of Solids
Since Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, heat recovery coke plants are the only metallurgical coke production facilities permitted for construction in the United States. This technology enables coke to be produced from pyrolysis of metallurgical coals with no waste water, no hazardous solid waste, low air emissions and co-generation of electricity. Classic studies of coal to coke conversion reveal an intermediate metaplast stage and yields solid, liquid and gas products. Experimental kinetic and chemical analysis of this process starts from a mass and atomic balance enabling construction of reliable chemical models. Chemical models will be used to explain the effects of operating parameters in heat recovery coke ovens such as coal blends, temperature, heating rate, bed density, etc.
Peer-Reviewed Journal Publications
LeBlanc, Jeffrey, John Quanci, and Marco J. Castaldi. “Investigating secondary pyrolysis reactions of coal tar via mass spectrometry techniques.” Energy & Fuels 31.2 (2017): 1269-1275.
LeBlanc, J.; Castaldi, M. J.; Uchimiya, M.; Ramakrishnan, G.; Orlov, A. Across-Phase Biomass Pyrolysis Stoichiometry, Energy Balance, and Product Formation Kinetic. Energy Fuels. 2016, 30, 6537–6546.
LeBlanc, J.; Quanci, J.; Castaldi, M. J. Experimental Investigation of Reaction Confinement Effects on Coke Yield in Coal Pyrolysis. Energy Fuels. 2016, 30, 6249–6256.
Jones, K.; Ramakrishnan, G.; Uchimiya, M.; Orlov, A.; Castaldi, M. J.; LeBlanc, J.; Hiradate, S. Fate of higher-mass elements and surface functional groups during the pyrolysis of waste pecan shell. Energy Fuels. 2015, 29, 8095-8101.
H. MÄTZING, D. Baris, S. Ciuta, J. Leblanc, M.J. Castaldi, H.-J. Gehrmann, D. Stapf “A comparison of wood pyrolysis products obtained by thermogravimetry and intra-particle measurements “, May 24th WasteEng Albi Ville, France, 2016
S. Ciuta, R. Palma, M.M. Webster, M.J. Castaldi (presented by J. LEBLANC) “Energy change during pyrolysis within single wood particle by gas sampling and thermodynamic calculations “, May 24th WasteEng Albi Ville, France, 2016
Leblanc, Jeffrey “A Kinetic Investigation of Coal Conversion to Metallurgical Coke: Influence of Particle Size, Density and Porosity”, November 5th AIChE San Francisco, CA 2013
Jeffrey R. LeBlanc, Marco J. Castaldi, “A Proposed Method for Reliable Gasification Kinetics by Thermal Gravimetric Analysis”, April 21 – 25, NAWTEC Fort Myers, Florida 2013
LeBlanc, J. R., O’Neal C. B., Soman J., “Isolating Graphene Layers on Glass Substrates by Electrostatic Attraction”, January 19-21st ACerS Electronic Materials and Applications Orlando, Florida 2011
