Overview
We tackle technological challenges to sustainable fuel and energy production from solar, nuclear and biological sources, as well as process and safety challenges to extracting traditional petrochemicals. Our approach spans the design and creation of efficient catalysts used in energy production, to process engineering and technoeconomic assessment of new production and storage options. Some examples of our research activities include:
- Fabricating “chemical-plants-on-a-chip” to rapidly test heterogeneous catalyses that maximize energy recovery from biomass.
- Predicting the role and fate of inorganics in the industrial processing of woody biomass, emphasizing energy and atomic efficiency of the overall process.
- Developing lignocellulosic-based green energy storage devices and electronics wearables.
- Optimizing electrocatalysis processes for water splitting in membrane fuel cells.
- Developing high-performance battery technology through electrolyte and advanced electrode materials design.
- Advancing safe nuclear energy generation and waste management.
- Applying genomics and synthetic biology approaches to engineer microorganisms and microbial communities that recover energy from CO2 and organic waste.
- Designing new organic photovoltaic devices for harvesting solar energy.
Investigating surfactant-based processes and transport phenomena associated with oil and bitumen extraction and industrial remediation of oil spills. - Developing novel electrochemical processes for producing ultra high purity materials.
Key Terms
- Solar energy
- Photocatalysis
- Nuclear power
- Heterogeneous catalysis
- Hydrogen
- Corrosion and material performance
- Electrochemistry
- Energy recovery and storage
- Liquid biofuels
- Algae to fuels and chemicals
- Methanogenesis
- Flexible electrodes and wearables
- Membrane separation
- Oil extraction
- Life cycle assessment
- Technoeconomic assessment
Core Principal Investigators

Enhanced oil recovery; oil sands processing; metamaterial colloids for solar fuels and chemicals

Algae to fuels and chemicals; liquid biofuels; methanogenesis

Electrochemical technologies; energy storage

Solar energy; photocatalysis

Heterogeneous catalysis; bioenergy

Reducing heat transfer fouling; biofuel generation/utilization

Food engineering; food proteins; biofuels

Liquid biofuels; methanogenesis; life cycle assessment

Solar energy; membrane separation; photocatalysis

Energy storage materials; biochar supercapacitor electrode; green energy production

Hydrogen production; polymers as a source of hydrogen

Liquid biofuels; methanogenesis; electrochemical technologies

Liquid biofuels; electrochemical technologies

Heterogeneous catalysis

Energy storage; absorption separation; carbon capture

Nuclear power; corrosion and materials performance; electrochemistry

Oil extraction

Liquid biofuels; technoeconomic assessment; life cycle assessment