Dr. Roberts’ research interests include experimental combustion, propulsion, laser-based optical diagnostics for reacting flows and carbon capture from point sources. Of fundamental interest is the complex interaction between the various length and velocity scales in turbulent flows and the chemical kinetics associated with combustion. His focus is on understanding these interactions in canonical flames, using advanced techniques to measure scalar and vector quantities of interest. One overarching goal is to mitigate the environmental impact of converting hydrocarbons into heat and work. Current projects include ammonia combustion at high pressures, the influence of ammonia on soot formation and soot morphology, cryogenic carbon capture, oxidative desulfurization of heavy fuel oils, metal leaching for Li ion battery recycling, and gasification of vacuum residuals.​