Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering Graduate Seminar Series

The Gene and Linda Voiland School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering is hosting a seminar presented by Dr. Huamin Wang, Senior Research Engineer, Energy Processes & Materials Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Dec. 4, at 4:10 p.m. in ADBF 1002/FLOYD 256 (Tri-Cities).

Dr. Huamin Wang is a senior research engineer in Energy Processes & Materials Division of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Nankai University, China and did postdoctoral research in ETH Zurich and UC Berkeley. Dr. Wang’s research focuses on catalyst and process development for the production of clean and renewable fuels and chemicals and fundamental understanding of catalytic reactions involved in the process by experimental approaches. His current research at PNNL involves developing efficient and cost-effective catalysts and catalytic processes for thermochemical conversion, specifically fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, of biomass to produce renewable fuels and developing structurally well-defined transition metal oxide catalysts and understanding atomic-level structure/function relationships of these catalysts used in converting of biomass-derived oxygenates.

Catalytic Hydrotreating for Clean and Renewable Fuel Production

Catalytic hydrotreating represents one of the most important catalytic processes and the annual sales of hydrotreating catalysts represent close to 10% of the total world market for catalysts. Hydrotreating involves a variety of catalytic processes which saturate unsaturated compounds and remove S, N, and O from different streams in a petroleum refinery or a biorefinery. It is playing a central role in the production of clean fuels to meet increasingly stringent standards for heteroatom content in transportation fuels in recent decades. In the most recent years, hydrotreating has also been applied in the production of renewable fuels from biomass via upgrading important biomass liquefaction intermediates, however, with some significant challenges.

In this seminar, I will present my recent research on hydrotreating of both petroleum streams for clean fuel production and biomass liquefaction intermediates for renewable fuel production. For hydrotreating in petroleum refinery, the emphasis will be placed on hydrodesulfurization (HDS) which reduces sulfur content in fuels. The fundamental understanding of HDS catalysis and catalyst will be discussed with the regard to the approach to convert some refractory sulfur-containing molecules and the precise description of the reaction mechanism and catalytic site requirements for HDS reactions. For hydrotreating in biorefinery, the overall biomass thermochemical conversion processes will be introduced and the performance of hydrotreating in upgrading of the biomass liquefaction intermediates, specifically fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction, will be presented.

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