Dr. Bilyeu's current work includes natural and synthetic material for adsorption of metals from water and wastewater and the optimization of engineered polymers and composites. The water/wastewater work involves evaluating the effectiveness, kinetics, and mechanism of metal ion adsorption onto biomass and synthetic polymers and electrochemical processes using a variety of analytical instruments (Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis, Ion Selective Electrodes, and others). The engineering work involves thermal analysis and mechanical characterization of thermophysical properties and phase transitions to optimize the composition and processing of materials and composites to applications using Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Dynamic Mechanical Analysis, Thermogravimetric Analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscopy.
