The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering is hosting a seminar presented by Dr. C.Y. Chen, Senior Staff Scientist, Catalysis Technology Department, Chevron Energy Technology Company, Richmond, CA, Nov. 13, at 4:10 p.m. in ADBF 1002/FLOYD 256 (Tri-Cities).
C.Y. Chen is a senior staff scientist in the Catalysis Technology Department of Chevron Energy Technology Company located in Richmond, California. He is a zeolite scientist by training and has been working at Chevron for the past 22 years in zeolite research projects involving synthesis, characterization, catalysis, adsorption and commercialization. He also served as a technical team leader for Chevron’s Zeolite Materials Team. He studied chemical engineering at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany for his Diplom degree and received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Oldenburg, Germany with Prof. Jens Weitkamp, after which he was a postdoc at Virginia Tech and Caltech with Prof. Mark Davis. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering of UC Davis since 2012.
Synthesis, Physicochemical and Catalytic Characterization of Zeolites
The widespread use of zeolites as catalysts, adsorbents and ion exchangers has had a remarkable impact on many industrial processes. The significant catalytic activity and selectivity of zeolite materials are attributed to the large internal surface area and highly distributed active sites that are accessible through uniformly sized pores. An important feature is that these pores are of the same molecular dimension as the reacting organic molecules. The use of organo-cation template molecules to provide structure direction has given rise to a number of novel zeolites in recent years, leading to breakthroughs in zeolite science and providing an impetus in developing new process chemistry. As a consequence, the understanding of zeolite structures and the structure-property relationships has become not only of basic academic interest but also one of the most critical tasks in bringing the industrial applications of these materials to commercial fruition.
In this seminar, I will first present an overview of zeolites and their synthesis as well as industrial zeolite research at Chevron. Then the emphasis will be placed on the characterization of zeolites via catalytic test reactions and physisorption. The hydroisomerization of n-hexane will be discussed for the investigation of the catalytic properties of a series of zeolites and some new examples of shape selectivities of zeolite catalysis will be demonstrated. Furthermore, our studies on the vapor phase physisorption of a series of hydrocarbon adsorbates with varying molecule sizes for a wide spectrum of zeolite structures will be reported. Catalytic test reactions and vapor phase hydrocarbon adsorption also provide useful information for the determination of zeolite structures. Furthermore, some new applications of zeolites as industrial catalysts will be discussed.
