Achievement

Research within our IGERT project focuses on “greening” of the Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process for making transportation fuels from non-petrochemical sources. Well established for decades using coal and natural gas feedstocks, and now also being applied to renewable feedstocks such as biomass from energy crops and municipal wastes, FT suffers from major limitations of poor energy efficiency (high process temps needed) and complex product mix (significant fraction smaller or larger molecules than best for fuels). Research by Trainees J. Hackenberg & M. Haibach and IGERT co-PI A. Goldman are attacking these limitations. Outcomes span the entire R&D pipeline, from synthesis and characterization of new catalysts to collaborations with a petrochemical company and patentable inventions. Highlights this reporting period include conference publication and presentations, and Patent Application for the invention, “Catalytic Hydroaryloxylation of Olefins”.