David W. Larsen

Dr. Larsen received his B.S. degree from Dana College and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He joined the UMSL faculty in 1964, after one year as a research associate at Washington University.

dlarsen@umsl.edu Office: B431 Phone: (314) 516-5341 Fax: (314) 516-5342

Research Interests

Dr. Larsen's research interests are in environmental chemistry, especially in the development of novel methods to treat hazardous waste including "mixed" (radioactive) waste. Research areas of interest include the preparation of activated char from coal and the regeneration of spent activated carbon by special gasification techniques. Gasification methods to treat mixed wastes containing oils, PCB's, dioxins, heavy metals, and radionuclids are also of interest. The gasification methods are applied to the treatment of effluent streams, sludges, and contaminated soils.

Selected Publications

"Noise cancellation in Fourier transform spectrophotometry".Larsen, David W.; Xu, Zhi. U.S. Pat. Appl. Publ. 2007, 26pp.

"Light Scattering Detector," D. W. Larsen and Z. Xu, US 7,268,881, patent issued to The Curators of The University of Missouri, September 11, 2007.

"Ultrasensitive Spectrophotometer," D. W. Larsen and Z. Xu, US 7,262,844. patent issued to The Curators of The University of Missouri, August 28, 2007.

"Development of Ultra-Low-Noise Spectrophotometry for Analytical Applications," Z. Xu and D. W. Larsen, Analytical Chemistry, 2005, 77, 6463.

" Thermodynamic Considerations in the Application of Reverse Mode Gasification to the Destruction of Hazardous Substances, David W. Larsen, Michael D. Washington, Stanley E. Manahan, Bradley Medcalf, and Frank E. Stary, Environmental Science and Technology, 1999, 33, 1263.

"Analytical Characterization of an Industrial Waste Treated by Gasification". Michael D. Washington, David W. Larsen, and Stanley E. Manahan, Environmental Science and Technology, 1999, 32, 2973.