Richard Knight (center) with MSE alum Ron Smith (left), and Trevor Jones of Solar Atmospheres (right)On October 18, 2012, Professor Richard Knight received the 2013 William Hunt Eisenman Award from the Philadelphia Liberty Bell Chapter of ASM International. Established in 1957, the William Hunt Eisenman Award recognizes dedicated service to the society, foresight, dynamic management, leadership and promotion of the metals industry and metallurgical education.
At the award presentation, Professor Knight delivered a lecture entitled "Recycling of Polymeric Materials Using Induction Coupled Plasma Technology." Currently, polymeric materials make up a significant percentage of the municipal solid waste stream. Few economically viable recycling techniques are available to deal with this polymeric material, and it is either dumped in landfills, incinerated, or inefficiently recycled through downgraded use. Thermal plasma treatment has the potential to effectively recycle polymeric material by converting it back into monomers or other useful materials.