| Research
Interests
My research
interests center on heterogeneous catalysis and reaction
engineering. The main area of application is the production
of electric power and of clean fuel and chemical products.
Very high
temperature (above 1000 degrees C) heterogeneous catalysts
that convert light hydrocarbon molecules to carbon monoxide
and hydrogen are limited in their selectivity by gas
phase free radical thermal reactions that occur in parallel.
Limiting the extent of gas phase thermo-chemistry is
one specific area of research interest. Similar low
selectivity issues arise in the high temperature coupling
of methane and methanol to make light olefins.
Production
of electric power taking advantage of fuel cell electrochemical
reactions can be more energy efficient and result in
lower emissions than combustion-based processes used
in automotive and power generation systems. Better anode
catalysts that have high activity and selectivity and
are less sensitive to poisons will help make fuel cell
technology a broadly attractive option for transportation
and electric power generation.
In both
of these technology area the key is gaining a fundamental
understanding of the catalytic processes and coupling
creative reaction engineering and materials science
concepts.
Selected
Publications
Hydrocarbon
Fuels for Future Automotive Engines, 216th Americal
Chemical Society National Meeting, Boston, MA, (August
1998).
Natural
Gas to Liquid Products, Technology Outlook, International
Energy Agency Symposium, Paris, France, (April 1998).
Fuel and
Fuel Cell Reforming Options for Automobiles, 30th ISATA
Conference on Automotive Technology, Florence, Italy,
Paper 97ELO33, (1997).
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