• ConocoPhillips Lecturer, Oklahoma State University (2007)
• Member of Championship Team, 3rd International Industrial Fluid Properties Simulation Challenge (IFPSC) (2006)
• Mac Wade Service Award, University of Virginia (2006)
• Gulbenkian Fellow, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisbon, Portugal (2003)
• Erskine Fellow, University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2003)
• Editor, Fluid Phase Equilibria (2004-)
• W.H. Corcoran Award of Chemical Engineering Education, Best Paper (1993, 1994)

Research programs of applied molecular theory, simulation and modeling are addressing the

1. Development and analysis of correlations and predictive models for thermophysical properties of fluids for chemical process design including pharmaceuticals and the Sulfur-Iodine Process for hydrogen production.
2. Thermodynamic modeling and mesoscale simulation for properties relevant to protein separations via hydrophobic chromatography.

Statistical mechanical methods based on molecular correlation functions and their connections to fluctuation properties lead to particularly simple descriptions of densities and activities of strongly nonideal fluids. These focus on liquids with dissolved gases and with salts including systems under high pressures as well as near-critical solvents such as water and carbon dioxide.

Examination is being made of process and property models, as well as ultimate energy requirements, to determine the data needs and efficiencies of the Sulfur-Iodine process for large-scale hydrogen production.

The observed effects of mobile-phase composition and surface features on protein recovery in reversed phase and hydrophobic interaction chromatography are being modeled to determine optimal separation design conditions from a minimum of data. Current collaborations involve colleagues in the U.S. and Denmark.

Selected Publications

Poling, B., Prausnitz, J.M., and O'Connell, J.P., "Properties of Gases and Liquids, 5th Ed.", McGraw-Hill Book Company, 2001. ISBN 0-07-011682-2. (Errata at http://www.che.virginia.edu/PGL5)

O'Connell, J.P., Haile, J.M., "Thermodynamics: Fundamentals for Applications", Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-58206-7. (Errata at http://www.cambridge.org)

Abildskov, J.; O'Connell, J. P.; "Thermodynamic method for obtaining the solubilities of complex medium-sized chemicals in pure and mixed solvents", Fluid Phase Equil., 2005, 228-229(1), 395-400.

Plyasunov, A.V; Shock, E.L.; O'Connell, J.P.; "Corresponding-states correlations for estimating partial molar volumes of nonelectrolytes at infinite dilution in water over extended temperature and pressure ranges", Fluid Phase Equil., 2006, 247(1), 18-31.

Fogle, J.L., O'Connell, J.P., Fernandez, E.J., "Loading, stationary phase, and salt effects during hydrophobic interaction chromatography: alpha-Lactalbumin is stabilized at high loadings", J. Chromatography A, 2006, 1121(2), 209-218 (2006).

Gani, R., Muro-Sune, N., Sales-Cruz, M., Leibovici, C., O'Connell, J.P., "Mathematical and numerical analysis of classes of property models", Fluid Phase Equil., 2006, 250(1-2), 1-32.

Christensen, S., Peters, G. H., Hansen, F. Y., O'Connell, J. P., Abildskov, J. “State conditions transferability of vapor-liquid equilibria via fluctuation solution theory with correlation function integrals from molecular dynamics simulation.” Fluid Phase Equil.  2007, 260(2), 169-176. 

Xiao Y.Z, Jones T.T., Laurent A.H., O'Connell J.P. , Przybycien T.M. , Fernandez E.J., "Protein instability during HIC: Hydrogen exchange labeling analysis and a framework for describing mobile and stationary phase effects", Biotechnology and Bioengineering, 2007, 96 (1): 80-93.

Xiao, Y., Rathore, A., O'Connell, J.P., Fernandez, E.J. "Generalizing a two-conformation model for describing salt and temperature effects on protein retention and stability in hydrophobic interaction chromatography", Journal of Chromatography A, 2007, 1157 (1-2), pp. 197-206.

Christensen, S., Peters, G.H., Hansen, F.Y., O'Connell, J.P., Abildskov, J., "Generation of thermodynamic data for organic liquid mixtures from molecular simulations", Molecular Simulation, 2007, 33 (4-5), pp. 449-457.

O'Connell, J.P., "History of AIChE Awards and Fellows", To be published in AIChE Centennial Book, 2008.

Deitcher, R.W., Xiao, Y., O'Connell, J.P., Fernandez, E.J. "Protein Instability During HIC; Evidence of unfolding reversibility, and apparent adsorption strength of disulfide bond-reduced a-Lactalbumin variants", Biotech. Bioeng., 2009, 102(5), 1416-1427.

Ellegaard, M.D., Abildskov, J., O'Connell, J.P. "Method for predicting solubilities of solids in mixed solvents", AIChE J., 2009, 55(5), 1256-1264.
              
O’Connell, J.P., Gani, R., Mathias, P.M., Maurer, G., Olson, J.D., Crafts, P.A.
"Thermodynamic Property Modeling for Chemical Process and Product Engineering: Some Perspectives", Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 2009, 48(10), 4619-4637.

O'Connell, J.P., Narkprasert, P., Gorensek, M.B. "Process model-free analysis for thermodynamic efficiencies of sulfur–iodine processes for thermochemical water decomposition", Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, 2009, 34(9), 4033–4040.