Alexander Henao (Chemistry)

Alexander Henao (Chemistry)

About DOE Fellow:
Mr. Alexander Henao will obtain his Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry by April 2010. His future plans are to to continue his work on the management aspect of D&D related work as well as apply to FIU Graduate School to continue his education in chemistry. Alexander got offered a job with Internal Revenue Services and is now working there full time.

DOE Related Projects

Currently he is working under the supervision of Himanshu Upadhyay on the development and implementation of the KMIT website. This website will help the D&D community by providing answers to frequently asked questions. Mr. Henao had the opportunity to work at PNNL and at INL. Just this past summer, Mr. Henao worked on the dissolution of fuel metal rods with bromine in an ethyl acetate media. Under the mentorship of Rick Demmer, Mr. Henao was able to get hands- on experience with various analytical instruments used by chemists on a day to day basis.

 
DOE Related Projects:

Mr. Henao is currently working on the Transport Behavior of Mercury (II) in Oak Ridge River Soil under the supervision of Dr. Katsenovich.

Objectives
The overall objective of the proposed tasks is to obtain sorption/desorption parameters of inorganic Hg2+, select the best isothermal adsorption model (linear, Langmuir and Freundlich) and determine the best fitting parameters.

Contribution
Mr. Henao’s main duties are calibration and maintenance of the total mercury analyzer instrument, preparation of working aqueous standards and solutions, determination of concentrations, recoveries of samples and to conduct soil characterization studies.
Internships:
Development of Oxidative Leaching Processes for Waste Treatment Plants
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Richland, Washington June 2008 – August 2008

Conducted, studied, and performed experiments to determine the concentration of chromium in caustic solution. By knowing concentration values in the waste, an optimal process for chromium removal can be designed, which is vital for the efficient vitrification process of the waste.
Development of Web-Based D&D Hotline System
Hanford Nuclear Test Site – Hanford, Washington June 2007 – August 2007

Assisted in the development, data mining, and implementation of the Knowledge Management Information Tool. The website helps scientists find solutions to D & D related problems, by allowing any user with internet access to post questions and get answers from top notch scientists in the field of D&D.
Presentations 
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