About

Professor Mason Tomson is a faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Southwestern State College and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Oklahoma State University. His research specializes in the fate and transport of organic and inorganic chemicals, with a particular focus on aquatic processes. Professor Tomson has made significant contributions to understanding the fundamental physical-chemical mechanisms that govern the behavior of chemicals in the environment, including pioneering work on the enhanced transport of chemicals via molecular and nanoparticle carriers, irreversible adsorption to solids, and mechanisms of mineral deposition and threshold inhibition. Throughout his career, Professor Tomson has authored or co-authored over 500 peer-reviewed articles in prestigious journals, holds numerous patents, and has authored two books. His research has been recognized for its impact on environmental science and engineering, including advancements in reducing water usage in hydraulic fracturing and extending mineral scale inhibitor treatment lifetimes, which have contributed to environmental sustainability and economic efficiency. He has secured over $40 million in research funding at Rice University, supervised more than 50 graduate students, and played active roles in university governance, including chairing and co-chairing various committees. Professor Tomson has also been instrumental in establishing international research collaborations, notably with Nankai University in China and Macao University, and has contributed to the recognition of nanotechnology breakthroughs. His work continues to influence the field of environmental chemistry and engineering.

Research topics

• Metallurgy
• Chemistry
• Thermodynamics
• Composite material
• Waste management
• Materials science
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Battery metals recycling by flash Joule heating

  2023 · 2 citations

  • Materials science
  • Environmental science
  • Metallurgy

  The staggering accumulation of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and the growing scarcity of battery metal sources have triggered an urgent call for an effective recycling strategy. However, it is challenging to reclaim these metals with both high efficiency and low environmental footprint. We use here a pulsed direct current flash Joule heating (FJH) strategy that heats the black mass, the combined anode and cathode, to >2100 K within seconds, leading to ~1000-fold increase in subsequent leaching kinetics. There are high recovery yields of all the battery metals, regardless of their chemistries, using even diluted acids like 0.01 M HCl, thereby lessening the secondary waste stream. The ultrafast high-temperature achieves thermal decomposition of the passivated solid-electrolyte-interphase and valance-state reduction of the hard-to-dissolve metal compounds, while mitigating diffusional loss of volatile metals. Life-cycle-analysis vs current recycling methods shows that FJH significantly reduces the environmental footprint of spent LIB processing, while turning it into an economically attractive process.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Boris I. Yakobson

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Amy T. Kan

  1 shared

• Rodrigo V. Salvatierra

  1 shared

• James M. Tour

  1 shared

• Jinhang Chen

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Dong Shen

  Hangzhou Dianzi University

  1 shared

• Bing Deng

  Rice University

  1 shared

• Guanhui Gao

  Rice University

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Member, AAAS, ACS, ASCE, ASEE, NACE, SPE

Similar researchers at Rice University

• Menachem Elimelechh-209
• Pulickel Ajayanh-204
• James Tourh-178
• Naomi J. Halash-173
• Frank Geurtsh-157