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Mike Matthews

Michael A. Matthews

Phone 803.777.0556
Fax 803.777.8265

E-mail


2C14 Swearingen 
Chemical Engineering
University of South Carolina
301 Main St.
Columbia, SC 29208

Michael A. Matthews

Professor and Chair

Adjunct Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery


The Dense Phase Fluids Laboratory

DPFL was established to assist industrial and government sponsors in the conduct of experimental research on processes that utilize supercritical or liquid carbon dioxide. We have conducted exploratory projects lasting on the order of a few days, as well as long-term projects with multi-year funding. For small industrial projects that do not involve intellectual property considerations, the University of South Carolina offers fixed-price agreements as a means of conducting research. Longer term research projects are conducted via standard government contracts and grants, or by negotiation of research contracts with industry.

The Dense Phase Fluids Laboratory does not conduct contract processing. For more information about industrial contracting, contact USC BusinessLINK, a unit of the Office of Sponsored Programs at the University of South Carolina.

USC BusinessLINK may be visited at www.uscbusinesslink.com.

Equipment & Facilities
  • SuperScrub™ 3000: 60-liter extraction/cleaning vessel, 35-60 C, 1,500-4,500 psi.
  • HIP 1-liter stirred autoclave, 0 - 100 C, 6,000 psi, with continuous pumping of CO2 and cosolvent, portable.
  • ISCO Supercritical Extractor: dual 10 cc chambers, 100 C, 2000 psi.
  • Three-liter packed bed supercritical fluid extraction system: 5,000 psi, liquid or supercritical CO2 capability; cosolvent pump; sample collection via solvent trapping.
  • Thar Technologies Phase Monitor, 10 cc variable volume view cell with CCD television monitoring. 30-75 C, 5,000 psi.
  • 10 and 25 cc fixed volume view cells in environmental chambers.
  • Two Class 100 Liberty Clean rooms for air particle control: 36 sq. ft each (Swearingen 1B47).
  • Gas Chromatograph HP 5890 Series II: with flame ionization detector (FID).
  • Gas Chromatograph SRI GC/Electron Capture Detector (ECD).
  • High Performance Liquid Chromatograph: Shimadzu SPD-6AV & Perkin Elmer Isocratic LC pump 250.
  • High Performance gel permeation chromatograph with differential viscosity, light scattering, and refractive index detectors for polymer characterization.
  • Shimadzu UV/Vis spectrophotometer for characterization of soluble contaminants.
  • Fiber optic-based UV spectrometer for characterization of soluble contaminants.
  • 4-foot Class II A/B biological safety cabinet.
  • 5 cu. ft. Precision Scientific Incubator.
  • Sterilmatic Steam Autoclave: 16 dia. x 26" D Chamber.T











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Swearingen Engineering Center | Columbia, SC 29208 | 803.777.4181 | www-che@engr.sc.edu