Atomic Scale Catalytic Property Tuning and Kinetic Insights for Innovative Catalytic Conversion of Fuels and Oxygenates

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The proposed research program seeks highly efficient and environmentally benign catalytic technology for chemical conversions of alternative resources into fuels and chemicals. This is a core research program of the newly established catalysis research lab, the Multidisciplinary Laboratory for Innovative Catalytic Science, at the University of Toronto. The program introduces a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary research strategy that unifies the diverse fields of surface science, reaction engineering, materials discovery, kinetic modeling, and microreactor technology. This strategy enables a simultaneous process optimization across the nanoscopic and macroscopic length scales by combining innovative materials design at the atomic scale together with strategies in chemical process intensification. The rigorous optimization is expected to lead to novel processing strategies for converting renewable resources, the feasibility of which is currently limited largely by the process efficiencies. The catalytic processing strategies developed from this program will provide innovative solution to address one of the grand challenges in energy. The research program is designed to carry out in an inter-disciplinary environment that places strong emphasis on nurturing next generation scientists, engineers, and emerging leaders. These individuals will be trained to think and solve problems creatively while acquiring the highly specialized technical skill sets across the various subject areas of chemical engineering and materials design, thus preparing them for their future endeavor in the diverse Canadian industries in the energy, petrochemical, consulting, semiconductor, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing sectors.