Achievement

A research thrust of our IGERT project focuses on ”greening” the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process, the well-established route to making transportation fuels from non-petroleum sources. Whether using coal or natural gas as feedstocks (as traditionally practiced) or starting with renewable sources, such as biomass from energy crops and agricultural and municipal wastes (as recently being investigated), FT suffers from two major limitations: the overall poor energy efficiency because of high process temperatures needed, and the wastefulness of the less than optimal product mix, because a significant fraction is molecules smaller than optimal for transportation fuels. Trainees J. Hackenberg & M. Haibach, advised by co-PI A. Goldman, have developed new chemical catalysts that operate at lower temperatures and can flexibly re-form the small molecule fractions into more desirable liquid fuels. Promising cost effectiveness and scalability is being pursued with a major petrochemical company.