1. Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis: Overview
September 30, 2004
Designing environmentally responsible molecules, products, and processes – from the molecular scale to the plant scale.
Please clean up this slide as needed
Lead Institution: University of Kansas (KU)
Core Partners: University of Iowa (UI); Washington University in St. Louis (WUStL); Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU)
Director: Bala Subramaniam (KU); Deputy Director: Daryle Busch (KU)
Associate Directors: John Rosazza (UI); Milorad Dudukovic (WUStL); Irvin Osborne-Lee (PVAMU)

2. Developing Environmentally Beneficial Catalytic Processes: A Multiobjective Task
Replace (Catalyst, Media & Flow Regime) in the blue box with the following (Enlarge the blue box if needed)
R&D Elements
Catalyst
Media
Multiphase Rxrs
Separation

3. Multiscale Approach & Multidisciplinary Research Thrust Groups
The length and time scales associated with the physical and chemical rate processes within the engineered system span several orders of magnitude.
At the lower end, the interactions at the molecular and atomic scales occur at time scales of femto- and pico- seconds and length scales of nanometers and lower.
At the higher end, the time scales correspond to those of millisecond minireactors to pilot plant scale reactor on the order of 100’s of meters. In between, we have the regions associated with fluid dynamics and transport that overlap with the reaction kinetics time scales. The physical design of catalysts and reactors is based on an understanding of these overlaps.
In the traditional chemistry and biology disciplines, the education and research programs are confined to this region. The education and research in traditional engineering curricula lie in this region.
Our strategic research plan is based on promoting cross disciplinary interactions to rationally develop the engineered system.
The expertise is organized in four research thrusts. For a given engineered system whose requirements are developed with input from industry, TG1 deals with the design and synthesis of catalyst sites. TG2 develops benign media and supports for testing these catalyst sites. TG3 has expertise associated with advanced experimental techniques for characterizing catalysts, probing reaction mechanisms and measuring fundamental transport parameters. TG4 houses the multiscale modeling expertise ranging from molecular models to CFD-based reactor models to plant scale simulations.
These groups work collaboratively in developing the technical elements needed to assemble the engineered system based on a sound fundamental understanding of the various elements. This multiscale approach is unique to this catalysis center.
Disciplines Represented in TGs
Engineering: Chemical, Civil, Environmental
Sciences: Chemistry, Biology

4. Multi-University Partnership: A Unique Resource for Catalysis Research
University of Kansas
High-pressure reaction engineering
Benign reaction media and catalyst supports
Molecular modeling and reaction mechanisms
Transition-metal catalyst design & synthesis
Washington
University in St. Louis
Multiphase reactor engineering
Reactor scaleup
University of Iowa
Biocatalyst design & synthesis
Biocatalytic processing
Prairie View A&M
Environmental Engineering
Bioengineering
Engineered
Catalytic System
Collectively, we represent a unique resource for multiscale catalysis research.

5. Near-Term (5 Yr) Goals
Develop transformational catalytic technologies using CEBC’s strategic research concept for the following classes of reaction systems (termed as testbeds)
Selective oxidations
Oxidative biocatalysis
Hydroformylations of olefins
Solid acid catalyzed alkylations & acylations
We term these classes of reaction systems as testbeds or proving grounds for developing the transformational technologies using our strategic plan. Under each testbed, we choose a specific reaction system for developing an engineered system. The testbeds and the specific reaction systems under each testbed were chosen with input from industry.

6. R&D Challenges & Expected Outcomes
Catalyst design for selective, stable and atom-economical reactions
Novel biocatalysts, solid acid catalysts, homogenous and heterogeneous catalysts with nanoscale properties
Design of “green” solvent media and catalyst supports
Water, CO2-based solvents, nanoporous polymeric hosts
Fundamentals of reaction mechanisms and reactor hydrodynamics
Advanced experimental methods for probing reaction mechanisms, transport properties and reactor hydrodynamics
Molecular-scale and CFD models
Reactor selection, design and scaleup
Advanced multifunctional reactors and novel bioreactors based on the use of benign media and catalysts
Since the essential elements of any ” engineered catalytic system” for a given testbed are identical (catalyst, media and reactors), the R&D challenges are common to all systems and are essentially associated with developing these elements.
While some of the outcomes may be specific to an engineered system, many of them associated with media, supports and reactors will have broad application to many systems. Hence, as we develop new knowledge in these areas, we expect that the time-frame associated with developing novel engineered systems will also be accelerated.
Since the R&D challenges are generic to all systems, the strategic research plan is also general as shown on the next slide.

7. Strategic Research Plan
Change Engineered Systems in top light green strip to Engineered System
In the top box, replace the bulleted lines with the following:
Assembling the Reactor Elements (All TGs)
Demonstrating Novel Bench-Scale Catalytic Systems (TG3&4)
Econ & Environ Analyses for Business Decisions (TG4)