• Biofuels Production and Separations
• Renewable Polymers and Composites
• Interface Engineering

Awards

• Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering – Elected 2013.
• UConn Environmental Achievement Award, 2007
• Pioneering Nanotechnology Competition Certificate of High Merit, 2007
• Katholieke Universiteit Senior Fellowship, 2001
• Fulbright Scholar, 2000
• Int. Conference on Automated Composites, Best paper, 1999
• Programming Committee – Nat’l. Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering, 1997-1998
• Society of Plastics Engineers, ANTEC Meeting, Best Paper, 1995, 1998, 2000
• Department of Commerce, NIST Bronze Medal, 1993
• RAND – UCLA Fellowship, 1987 and 1988
• UCLA Distinguished Scholar, 1987
• Fannie and John Hertz Fellowship, 1986

Publications

Y.Zhou, I.Noshadi, H.Ding, J.Liu, R.S.Parnas, A.Clearfield, M.Xiao, Y.Meng, L.Sun, Solid Acid Catalyst Based on Single-layer α-Zirconium Phosphate Nanosheets for Biodiesel Production via Esterification, Catalysts, 8(1), 17, 2018.

Li, Y.; Changjun  Liu; Richard Parnas; Yingying  Liu; Bin Liang, Houfang Lu, The CO2 Absorption and Desorption Performance of the Triethylenetetramine + N, N-diethylethanolamine + H2O System, Chinese J. Chem.Eng., 26(11), 2351-60, 2018.

Fu, Y. Qing, R. Parnas, Y. Liu, B. Liang, W. Jiang and H. Lu, Purification of Biodiesel by Bubbling CO2 to React with 1,8-Diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene and Glycerol, J. Biobased Mat. Bioenergy, 12(3), 259-65 2018.

Kamat, Y. Zhang, M. Anuganti, W. Ma, I. Noshadi, H. Fu, S. Ekatan, R. Parnas, C. Wang, C. Kumar and Y. Lin, Enzymatic Activities of Polycatalytic Complexes with Nonprocessive Cellulases Immobilized on the Surface of Magnetic Nanoparticles, Langmuir, 32(44), 11573-79, 2016.

S.Zeng, C.Tao, R.Parnas, W.Jiang, B.Liang, Y.Liu, H.Lu, Jatropha curcas L. oil extracted by switchable solvent N, N-dimethylcyclohexylamine for Biodiesel Production, Chinese J. Chem. Eng., 24(11), 1640-1646, 2016.

Du, J.A. Valla, R.S. Parnas and G.M. Bollas, Conversion of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) based waste carpet to benzene-rich oils through thermal, catalytic and catalytic steam pyrolysis, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 4(5), 2852–2860, 2016.

Diao, H. Xia, R.S. Parnas, Wheat gluten blends with maleic anhydride functionalized polyacrylate cross-linkers for improved properties, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 7(40), 22601–22609, 2015.

Kanjilal, I. Noshadi, J.R. McCutcheon, A.D. Asandei, R.S. Parnas, Allylcyclohexylamine functionalized siloxane polymer and its phase separated blend as pervaporation membranes for 1,3-propanediol enrichment from binary aqueous mixtures, J. Membrane Sci., 486, 59-70, 2015.

Kanjilal, I. Noshadi, E.J. Bautista, R. Srivastava, R.S. Parnas, Batch, Design Optimization and DNA Sequencing Study for Continuous Production of 1,3-propanediol from Waste Glycerol by a Soil Based Inoculum, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 99(5), 2105-2117, 2015.

J. Bao, Y. Liu, R. Parnas, B. Liang, H. Lu, Inter-solubility of Product Systems in Biodiesel Production from Jatropha Curcas L. oil with the Switchable Solvent DBU/methanol, RSC Advances, 5, 8311-8317, 2015.