Yulin Professor School of Chemical and Biomolecular    Engineering Ph.D., Manchester University,    United Kingdom, 1992

Yulin Deng (Professor) Obtained his Ph.D from Manchester University, United Kingdom in 1992. He was a postdoctoral research fellow in McMaster University, Canada from 1992-95. He joined the Institute of Paper Science and Technology as an Assistant Professor in 1995, and then was promoted as an associate professor in 1999. Yulin Deng joint Georgia Tech in 2003 and was promoted as professor in 2008.  Dr. Yulin Deng's research interests are novel polymer synthesis and application, colloid and surface chemistry, nanotechnology, papermaking chemistry, paper additives, paper recycling, and paper printing. Regarding to his research in paper related areas, he has developed new paper sizing agents, retention agents, and recyclable pressure sensitive adhesives. The process control in flotation deinking and papermaking is also one of Yulin's active research areas. Yulin is also active in the water closure operation of paper mills. Application of nanotechnology in paper is one of his recent interested research areas.  He has published more than 100 journal papers.

Research Summary

Dr. Deng's research interests are nanomaterial synthesis and self-assembling, colloid and surface science and engineering, polymer synthesis, hydrogels for controlled drug delivery and papermaking and paper recycling.

Nanotchnology

Nanomaterial synthesis and characterization is a focus of Yulin’s research group. Nanobelts of inorganic oxide nanobelts with very low cost were synthesized. These nanobelts are excellent candidates for many applications, such as polymer composite, papermaking and coating. Nano titanium dioxide hollow particles with very surface area were synthesized using layer-by-layer assembling technique. The aspect ratio of the hollow TiO 2 can be well controlled. Nanocomposites such as polymer/nanoclay hybrids are engineering materials that have great potential in many industries. Recent research at Dr. Deng's group indicated that exfoliated nanoclay could be encapsulated in polymer latexes. The water-based polymer-nanoclay suspension is a great candidate for painting and paper coating. Nanostructured sol-gel systems and nanoscale self-assembly process are also the fields currently being studied. Liquid emulsion membrane has been used for synthesizing nanostructured inorganic and polymeric materials in our group.

Polymer Chemistry

Development of new polymers for paper industry is a active research area of Yulin's research group. The polymers currently being developed include new retention aids, toner resins, pressure-sensitive adhesives, and sizing agents. Yulin's research group is the first research group in the world that used polymeric cationic microparticle flocculants as papermaking retention aids. It was found that the combination of a cationic microparticle retention aid and a water-soluble cationic polymer could significantly improve the filler and fines retention in papermaking process. The fundamentals of this novel retention system are also interested.

Nanoparticles and composite are interest materials that have great potential to improve papermaking process and paper product properties. Recent study is focused on the application of nanoparticle-cellulosic polymer composite. Sperhydrophobic papers and antibacterial papers are also been developed. 

Papermaking and Paper Recycling

The papermaking system mainly contains fibers, fines, fillers, water, and other additives. The papermaking wet-end chemistry deals with all of the surface chemistries of the above listed materials in papermaking, such as adsorption, desorption, flocculation, surface modification, wet and dry strength, dye retention, foaming control, pitch and sticky control, etc. The purpose of wet-end chemistry is to use the principles of colloid and surface chemistry, and polymer chemistry to control both machine runnability and paper quality.

There have been significant changes in papermaking wet-end chemistry during last twenty years. For examples, the speed of the paper machine has been remarkably increased in recent years. The modern paper machine requires an excellent fiber web strength, good retention of fines and fillers, and fast drainage. To meet the needs of high speed paper machine and control the paper quality, many new retention systems have been developed. Among these new retention aids, microparticle retention system has shown extensive application in papermaking industry. However, the fundamentals of microparticle system have not been well understood, and many problems related to microparticle retention system have not been solved. The mechanism of microparticle retention aid is being studied.

The recycling of waste paper is of growing importance, both better utilization of the natural resources of wood and reduction of the amount of solid waste. Although the recycling industry is experiencing fast growth, the cost and quality of using waste paper are still incomparable with that of using virgin fibers. Therefore, to reduce the amount of dumping wastepaper into our limited landfills, both the new techniques and the fundamentals must be studied. Flotation deinking is one of the most efficient technologies for ink and contaminant removal from wastepaper. Our interests in paper recycling are focused on the flotation deinking chemistry, the fiber loss mechanism, and the ink-air bubble interaction. Sticky control is another area of interest.