Innovations for green and renewable energy production

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This research is focused on the development of novel catalysts and the application of reaction engineering such as catalytic distillation to produce green and renewable energy. A green process is defined as a process which is more energy efficient than an existing process and also reduces waste production. Catalytic distillation is a reactor technology that combines reaction and separation which offers enhanced conversion, reduced energy consumption and reduction of green house gases. The proposal has two components:  one project is to develop a new green process to upgrade Canada's vast reserve of oil sands bitumen and heavy oil and the other is to develop a green process for biodiesel production.Upgrading of Canada's vast reserve of heavy oil and bitumen requires a large consumption of hydrogen which is expensive and in short supply. We have patented a process whereby the water that is present in the recovery of the heavy oil and bitumen could be utilized to produce hydrogen in situ as well as reducing waste residue. This proposal is designed to develop more active catalysts for in situ hydrogen generation and to further investigate the use of water itself to provide a hydrogen source for upgrading the heavy oil and emulsion.  Biodiesel is a renewable energy that is derived from biomass. Current processes for biodiesel production use a liquid catalyst such as NaOH or H2SO4 which are not environmentally friendly. There are potential benefits to utilize catalytic distillation for biodiesel production. However, a suitable catalytic distillation packing which functions both as a catalyst and separation device has to be developed. This portion of the proposal is focused on the development of catalytic distillation packings that could be used for the production of biodiesel. Process modeling will be carried out to design a catalytic distillation process for biodiesel production.