Industrial energy management

	Cristian Cardenas-Lailhacar http://www.ise.ufl.edu/cardenas/

Dr. Christian Cardenas-Lailhacar´s research considers a variety of projects ranging from industrial energy management and processes to global and local optimization with emphasis on chemical and other nano-systems. He also provides technical management for the Industrial Assessment Center.

Industrial Energy Management The cost of energy in the market, its availability, and forecasting its use are the basic components of energy management and rigorous analysis is needed to account for their interactions. Dr. Cardenas-Lailhacar´s research considers the development of new theory and techniques to aid in understanding energy management globally. Some of these tools include the development of software to perform a balance between consumption and equipment usage. Recent developments include the prediction of savings with very small deviations. Future research includes the enhancement of these tools to include additional features for bigger industrial systems and processes. In addition, Dr. Cardenas-Lailhacar has introduced the concept of energy descriptors that give a better understanding of energy management through analytical functions, show energy patterns and demand needs, and allow prediction of project savings.

Optimization in Chemical Systems Dr. Cardenas-Lailhacar´s research deals with phenomena in the gas phase for systems of interest in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, including drug design. Consequently, he uses quantum and statistical mechanics, mathematical and computational methods, like density functional (DFT), ab-initio and semi-empirical theories to describe time-dependent and time-independent phenomena in both simple and complex molecular systems. He is developing theory and techniques to understand and describe local and global minimum (reference states), maxima, evolution (time-dependent processes), transition and steady state theory, materials, and nano-systems and applications (nano-technology). Dr. Cardenas-Lailhacar is applying these computational techniques for accurate calculations of the electronic structure and reactivity of systems of interest. Recently, some of our research addresses the use of quantitative structure activity relationships (QSAR) tools to understand and rationalize reactivity of chemical compounds with the aid of their molecular structure, spectra, and properties. In addition, his aim is to include linear and nonlinear properties to predict the structure of increasingly complex molecular systems.

Industrial Assessment Center A grant by the U.S. Department of Energy provides the funds for the University of Florida Industrial Assessment Center. Extended energy, waste, and productivity enhancement audits are performed with students for midsize manufacturing facilities. The experience gained in these audits allows Dr. Cardenas-Lailhacar to work on a variety of industrial research projects.