I-Corps: Assessment of Nanostructured Palladium on Carbon Catalysts

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This Innovation Corps project proposed a novel palladium-supported on porous carbon catalysts (PCC). PCCs account for approximately 1/3rd of the catalysts used in the $4.7 billion/year petrochemicals market. An innovative new PCC has been developed under a previous NSF award. Better utilization of expensive palladium coupled to improvements in the carbon support provide the foundation for decreases in the cost and enhancements in the performance of these key catalysts. The proposed program will evaluate the industry relevant properties of the catalysts. Preliminary market analysis and cost estimates of potential industry targets indicate that the cheaper cost and improved properties of this catalyst, coupled to low startup costs, excellent scalability, and potential for further catalyst upgrades, provide the basis for founding a competitive start up catalysis company. This hypothesis will be tested by the team to enable a Go/No Go decision to be made and to identify and develop the appropriate business plan.The project will have (4) major broader impacts: (1) lower costs and improved energy and materials efficiency in a significant fraction of the petrochemical and fine chemical industries. (2) the materials and methods developed will provide the foundation for significant improvements in automobile catalytic converters, decreasing cost and improving air quality, and in energy storage and utilization (3) develop skills in the graduate student and faculty member participating in transitioning pure and applied research from the laboratory into the market place (4) result in sharing of the curriculum content with other potential entrepreneurs within the institution.